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THE  ADVENT  OF  THE  TEENS, 


parent's  Xibrarg 

The 

Trend  of  the  Teens 


BY 

M.  V.  O'SHEA 

Professor  of  Education,  The  University  of  Wisconsin 

and 

Educational  Director, 
Mother's  Magazine  and  Home  Life 


CHICAGO 
FREDERICK  J.  DRAKE  &  CO. 

PUBLISHERS 


Copyright,    1920 

By  Frederick  J.  Drake  &  Co., 

Chicag-o 


All   Rights   Reserved 


iparent'0 


A  series  of  practical  books  relating  to  the  care  and  culture 
of  the  young,  published  under  the  editorial  supervision  of 
Professor  M.  V.  O'Shea  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  Educa- 
tional Director,  and  Mr.  Paul  E.  Watson,  Editorial  Director, 
of  Mother's  Magazine  and  Home  Life,  in  cooperation  with 
which  magazine  this  Library  has  been  prepared. 


5002 ii 


FOREWORD 

The  author  of  this  volume  has  served  for  many 
years  as  educational  director  of  Mother's  Maga- 
zine and  Home  Life  and  also  as  chairman  of  the 
department  of  education  of  the  National  Con- 
gress of  Mothers  and  Parent-Teacher  Associa- 
tions. During  these  years  he  has  discussed  a 
large  number  of  problems  of  child  training  with 
parents  and  teachers  whom  he  has  addressed,  and 
who  have  taken  advantage  of  the  opportunity 
offered  by  the  Personal  Service  Bureau  of 
Mother's  Magazine  and  Home  Life  to  seek  coun- 
sel and  assistance  in  the  rearing  of  their  children. 
They  have  freely  sought  the  author's  advice  and 
they  have  given  him  their  experiences  in  employ- 
ing various  methods  in  the  instruction  and  dis- 
cipline of  their  children.  It  has  been  his  custom 
to  select  the  more  fundamental  and  important 
questions  asked  by  parents  and  teachers  and  sub- 
mit them  for  investigation  to  groups  of  advanced 
students  engaged  in  the  study  of  child  nature  and 
education.  It  has  generally  turned  out  that  the 
author  has  made  practical  suggestions  to  those 
who  have  consulted  him,  and  they  have  in  most 
cases  made  a  trial  of  these  suggestions  and  have 


8  FOREWORD 

reported  the  results  to  the  author.  In  this  way 
a  great  many  concrete  instances  illustrating  char- 
acteristic traits  of  childhood  and  youth  have  been 
accumulated,  and  the  outcome  of  different  meth- 
ods of  dealing  with  them  has  been  accurately 
recorded.  In  the  preparation  of  this  volume  the 
author  has  chosen  for  discussion  the  more  vital 
of  the  problems  which  have  been  treated  in  the 
manner  indicated,  and  he  has  suggested  how 
these  may  best  be  solved  under  the  conditions 
existing  in  different  types  of  homes,  schools  and 
communities. 

The  author  has  kept  constantly  in  mind  that 
most  parents  and  teachers  are  neither  familiar 
with  nor  interested  in  technical  psychology, 
biology,  or  hygiene.  They  are  concerned  with  the 
immediate  and  pressing  problems  of  guiding  chil- 
dren in  their  intellectual,  physical,  ethical  and 
temperamental  development.  They  wish  to  un- 
derstand why  children  act  in  certain  ways  and 
how  they  can  most  effectively  divert  them  from 
wrong  action.  Parents  and  teachers  are  so  en- 
grossed with  the  concrete  activities  of  childhood 
and  youth  that  they  have  little  time  to  consider 
academic  questions  pertaining  either  to  the  nature 
of  children  or  to  their  training;  and  consequently 
the  author  has  avoided  practically  all  merely 
theoretical  exposition  in  this  volume.  He  has 
confined  the  discussion  throughout  to  typical  situ- 
ations which  confront  most  parents  continually 


FOREWORD  9 

in  the  upbringing  of  their  children.  He  has  used 
terms  which  can  be  understood  by  those  who  have 
had  little  or  no  study  of  psychology,  physiology 
and  related  sciences,  though  the  suggestions  for 
child  training  given  herein  are  based  upon  data 
derived  from  these  sciences. 

The  author  has  not  allowed  himself  to  forget 
at  any  time  that  this  book  is  designed  for  prac- 
titioners who  are  every  hour  face  to  face  with 
childhood  and  youth  in  the  concrete,  and  who  are 
training  their  children  in  some  way  whether  right 
or  wrong.  He  has  undertaken  the  difficult  task  of 
applying  science  to  practice  without  leading  the 
practitioner  over  the  technical  ground  upon  which 
the  practice  is  based.  It  would  have  been  a  sim- 
pler matter  to  have  dwelt  principally  in  the  realm 
of  theory  and  only  occasionally  to  have  made 
practical  application  of  scientific  principles. 

This  is  one  of  a  series  of  four  volumes  pre- 
pared for  the  Parent's  Library.  These  volumes 
supplement  one  another  and  are  published  simul- 
taneously. The  title  of  each  indicates  that!  it 
deals  with  particular  phases  of  the  training  of 
childhood  and  youth  but  it  has  been  written  with 
relation  to  the  others  in  the  series.  The  titles  of 
the  four  volumes  are:  " First  Steps  in  Child 
Training";  "Faults  of  Childhood  and  Youth"; 
<  <  The  Trend  of  the  Teens  " ; ' '  Every-day  Problems 
in  Child  Training." 

The  reader  should  bear  in  mind  that  the  aim 


10  FOREWORD 

throughout  each  and  all  of  these  books  has  been 
to  make  the  discussion  intelligible  and  practical 
by  presenting  typical  traits  of  childhood  as  ex- 
hibited in  the  ordinary  situations  of  daily  life, 
and  then  endeavoring  to  explain  these  traits  and 
to  indicate  how  they  should  be  dealt  with  when 
they  are  not  in  accord  with  the  requirements  of 
life  in  the  home,  in  the  school  and  in  the  com- 
munity. 

M.  V.  O'SHEA. 
The  University  of  Wisconsin. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I     THE  CRUCIAL  AGE 13 

II     BOY  PROBLEMS  38 

III  GIRL  PROBLEMS 65 

IV  WHEN  THE  TENDER  PASSION  APPEARS.  . . 95 

V     DISTRACTIONS  IN  AMERICAN  LIFE 141 

VI     THE  ROLE  OP  THE  FATHER  IN  THE  TRAINING 

OF  YOUTH 168 

VII     THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  YOUTH 189 

VIII      QUESTIONS  FREQUENTLY  ASKED  BY  PARENTS 

AND  TEACHERS 220 

IX     BOOKS  FOR  PARENTS ,.  .264 

INDEX  .  ..271 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

CHAPTEE  I 
THE  CRUCIAL  AGE 

The  Seven  Ages  of  Man. — -Of  the  seven  ages 
of  man,  youth  is  without  doubt  the  most  im- 
portant, the  most  significant,  the  most  difficult 
to  comprehend  and  to  handle.  So  men  must  have 
always  felt,  for  the  literature  of  the  world  is 
burdened  with  the  story  of  this  epoch,  reciting 
its  excesses,  its  passions,  its  madnesses,  as  well 
as  its  glories  and  its  posibilities.  The  very  term 
' ' youth"  is  for  many  of  us  synonymous  with  joy, 
gladness,  exhilaration,  courage,  hope,  endurance 
— all  that  makes  life  fresh  and  enjoyable  and 
promising,  as  well  as  unstable  and  erratic. 
"  Youth  holds  no  society  with  grief, "  says  Eurip- 
ides. The  artist  who  wishes  to  portray  light- 
heartedness  or  optimism  or  daring  chooses  youth 
as  his  symbol.  The  reformer,  too,  realizes  that 
if  he  would  get  his  cause  adopted  he  must  appeal 
to  youth,  for  then  all  is  plastic  and  possible.  Then 
vision  is  turned  forward  and  upward.  The  youth 
longs  for  a  new  order  of  things — for  novel  ex- 
periences. The  old  and  familiar  are  too  tame 
and  commonplace  to  interest  him.  The  blood  of 

13 


14  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

youth  is  fired  with  the  desire  for  discovery  in 
every  field  of  interest  and  action.  But  the  mature 
man  dislikes  a  changing  world,  because  this  re- 
quires him  continually  to  readjust  himself,  which 
comes  hard  when  the  bones  have  got  their  set, 
so  to  speak.  As  Bacon  puts  it, — "  Young  men 
are  fitter  for  execution  than  for  counsel;  and 
fitter  for  new  projects  than  for  settled  business." 
So,  too,  with  Shakespeare: 

"For  youth  no  less  becomes 
The  light  and  careless  livery  that  it  wears, 
Than  settled  age  his  sables,  and  his  weeds 
Importing  health  and  graveness." 
Again,  the  corruptor  of  youth,  the  flatterer,  as 
Plutarch  calls  him,  is  also  aware  that  youth  is 
the  time  for  him  to  make  his  appeal.     Now  the 
corn  and  the  weeds,  the  wheat  and  the  tares  are 
springing  up  together.     All  sorts  of  seeds  are 
sown  in  the  soul,  and  when  the  warmth  and  mois- 
ture of  adolescence  comes  they  are  ready  to  start 
into  life.)    If  the  weeds  and  tares  are  nourished 
they  wflT  thrive,  and  the  corn  and  wheat  will  be 
choked   out,  and  the  flatterer  knows   this.     He 
understands    that   if   the   weeds    do    not   get    a 
start  now  they  can  not  gain  much  strength  when 
the  springtime  is  past,  and  the  heat  of  the  sum- 
mer is  reached. 

Youth  Among  Primitive  People. —  Not  only 
have  the  seers  of  all  times  appreciated  that  youth 
is  a  period  of  regeneration,  the  epoch  when  the 


THE  CRUCIAL  AGE  15 

spirit  is  born,  but  nature  men  have  appreciated 
the  same  fact,  as  their  ceremonials  show.  They 
have  observed  that  there  is  an  age  when  the  boy 
is  being  transformed  into  a  man  and  the  girl  into 
a  woman  with  extraordinary  rapidity,  and  they 
must  be  given  some  serious  lessons  which  will 
make  them  ready  for  their  new  duties.  Savage 
life  is  above  all  else  a  life  of  physical  hardship; 
it  is  in  unceasing  conflict  with  crude  nature.  The 
savage  is  like  an  animal  among  other  animals, 
hunting  and  being  hunted,  and  there  are  cer- 
tain special  qualities  which  he  must  possess  if 
he  would  succeed  in  the  struggle.  He  must  en- 
dure physical  pain  without  a  murmur.  He  must 
go  for  long  periods  without  food.  He  must  face 
danger  without  flinching.  Eastman  in  his  "Indian 
Boyhood"  tells  us  very  vividly  how  when  the 
Indian  boy  shows  the  first  symptoms  of  adolescent 
upheaval  he  is  subjected  to  severe  treatment  to 
test  his  staying  qualities,  and  to  impress  upon 
him  the  fundamental  ideals  of  his  race.  The 
boy's  teeth  are  knocked  out,  blood  is  drawn  from 
his  skin,  long  fasting  is  required,  and  grave 
dangers  must  be  faced. 

Familiar  Adolescent  Phenomena. —  Any  one 
who  has  lived  with  children  passing  through  this 
epoch  must  have  observed  the  rapid  outward 
changes  that  take  place, — the  remodeling  of  the 
features,  the  expansion  of  the  chest,  the  altera-" 
tion  of  the  voice,  and  the  like.  Recent  investiga- 


16          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

tion  is  in  a  way  confirming  what  people  have 
casually  observed  in  their  dealing  with  adolescent 
boys    and   girls.      To   begin   with,   hundreds    of 
thousands  of  children  in  our  own  country  and 
abroad  have  been  carefully  weighed  and  meas- 
ured from  infancy  to  maturity,  and  the  results 
show  markedly  accelerated  growth  during  two  or 
three  years   at  the   onset  of  adolescence.     The 
bones  often  feel  the  impetus  of  growth  first,  and 
spring  forward  more  rapidly  than  the  muscles 
which  are  attached  to  them,  and  this  sometimes 
produces  uneasiness  in  the  individual,  or  even 
pains," — " growing"  pains.     The  heart  soon  re- 
sponds and  its  working  power  is  increased,  so 
that  the  needs  of  the  rapidly  expanding  organism 
may  be  properly  attended  to.    The  lungs  increase 
rapidly;  the  digestive   system  is   affected;   and 
indeed  every  vital  process  seems  to  feel  the  stir 
of  new  life,  as  it  were.    The  brain  could  not,  of 
Scourse,  remain  dormant  while  all  the  other  or- 
gans were  undergoing  metamorphosis.    It  is  the 
last  to  receive  the  adolescent  stimulus,  but  the 
change  is  most  profound  when  it  does  come.   The 
cerebral  tissues  are  more  plastic  at  this  time  than 
they  were  before  or  will  be  afterward,  due  to  the 
fact,  possibly,  that  there  is  an  unusually  large 
proportion  of  water  in  the  composition  of  brain 
cells.    Cerebral  areas  that  have  lain  dormant  up 
until  this  time  now  make  ready  for  functioning. 
So  there  are  other  profound  changes  which  really 


THE  CRUCIAL  AGE  17 

make  adolescence  a  kind  of  second  birth  spirit- 
ually. 

The  First  Effect  of  Adolescent  Development. — • 
We  sKould  expect  that  the  effect  of  this  influx 
of  new  life  would  manifest  itself  in  heightened 
activity  in  every  direction.  If  we  may  trust 
the  testimony  of  poets  and  ordinary  observers, 
this  is  generally  the  case;  yet  there  is  a  certain 
sense  in  which  quite  the  opposite  seems  to  be  true. 
Present-day  conceptions  of  the  physical  organism 
as  a  device  for  generating  and  expending  energy 
leads  us  to  the  view  that  activity  and  growth  are 
under  certain  conditions  antagonistic  processes. 
When  an  organ  is  expanding  with  extraordinary 
rapidity  it  cannot  expend  as  relatively  large  an 
amount  of  energy  in  action  as  under  normal 
conditions.  It  may  become  more  responsive  to 
stimulation,  but  it  cannot  endure  so  long  in  any 
activity  making  heavy  drafts  on  vital  force.  En- 
ergy may  be  expended  in  building  the  organism, 
or  in  repairing  it,  or  in  warming  it;  or  it  may 
be  utilized  in  the  accomplishment  of  work  of 
some  kind.  When  it  is  largely  drawn  upon  at 
one  point,  however,  as  for  constructive  purposes, 
the  amount  which  can  be  employed  at  other 
points  must  be  decreased. 

Adolescent  Moodiness. —  Maudsley,  Clous  ton, 
Starr,  Marro,  Christopher,  and  other  physicians 
tell  us  that  the  nervous  system  is  frequently  so 
disturbed  at  adolescence  that  insanity  results. 


18          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

Melancholia  often  overtakes  the  adolescent,  and 
so  does  hysteria  and  kindred  maladies.  LaFetra 
says  that  during  this  period  "morbid  introspec- 
tion into  the  physical  or  mental  life  may  lead  to 
hypochondriasis  or  melancholia.  If  the  normal 
emotions  are  overactive  at  the  same  time,  the 
'New  England  conscience'  may  be  developed, 
making  the  individual  utterly  miserable  for 
months  or  years.  There  may  be  a  religious  type 
of  melancholia,  with  dread  of  having  committed 
the  unpardonable  sin.  Conversions  are  apt  to 
take  place  at  this  time,  or  calls  to  enter  the 
ministry,  convent,  or  sisterhood.  At  times  the 
melancholia  may  be  so  profound  that  a  suicidal 
tendency  is  observed.  Every  year,  for  trivial 
causes  students  of  both  sexes  commit  suicide. 
Fear  of  some  terrible  disease  or  of  early  decay 
is  one  type  (hypochondriasis),  and  this  is  exag- 
gerated through  the  agency  of  quack  advertise- 
ments and  pamphlets  read  by  the  apprehensive 
boy  or  girl." 

Professor  Coe,  discussing  the  tendency  of  the 
adolescent  toward  abnormal  introspection  says 
that  "the  highly  sensitive  adolescent  conscience 
is  a  special  feature  of  the  reflectiveness,  intro- 
spection, and  self-criticism  that  tends  to  set  in 
somewhat  preceding  the  advent  of  puberty.  The 
absorption  of  the  child-consciousness  in  objects 
now  gives  place  to  self-consciousness  destined 
soon  to  become  most  intense.  Heretofore  the 


THE  CRUCIAL  AGE  19 

child  has  been  to  himself  merely  one  object 
among  others;  he  has  taken  himself  objectively. 
But  now  he  discovers  himself  and  this  self  is 
a  quivering  mass  of  sensibility.  The  things  about 
him  also  get  an  inner  side  now,  and  it  is  their 
ultimate  principles  and  their  hidden  relations  to 
him  that  interest  him.  He  can  no  longer  take 
things  as  they  appear;  nor  can  he  take  anything 
for  granted;  much  less  can  he  believe  anything 
merely  because  other  persons  do  so.  Nothing 
short  of  absolute,  undubitable  truth,  the  true 
inwardness,  the  complete  subjectivising  of  every- 
thing, will  satisfy  him.  Nothing  less  than  abso- 
lutely right  principles  of  conduct  can  be  right  at 
all,  and  everything  in  himself  that  falls  short  of 
absolute  demands  is  hateful  to  him.  Heretofore, 
moral  law  has  been  an  authority  imposing  itself, 
upon  him  from  outside;  now  he  discovers  that 
the  law  speaks  loudest  within  him.  Heretofore, 
right  conduct  has  consisted  for  him  in  obedience 
to  formal  rules;  now  he  begins  to  inspect  the 
rules  themselves,  and  to  find  within  himself 
something  more  exacting  and  terrible  than  rules." 
Adolescent  Strain  and  Stress  as  Portrayed  in 
Autobiography. —  Some  striking  examples  of 
adolescent  strain  and  stress  have  been  preserved 
for  us  in  autobiography.  Marie  Bashkirtseff's 
Journal  gives  a  vivid  account  of  her  nerve  storms 
during  this  epoch;  and  Mary  McLane's  recent 
autobiographical  sketch  shows  something  of  the 


20          THE  TREND  OP  THE  TEENS 

same  neurotic  condition.  Mill  in  his  reminis- 
cences tells  of  Ms  depression  at  this  period.  A 
heavy  weight  which  he  could  in  no  way  throw  off 
hung  upon  his  spirit,  and  for  months  the  oppres- 
sion was  so  severe  that  he  seriously  contemplated 
putting  an  end  to  it  all.  In  Eobert  Elsmere  and 
Maggie  Tulliver  we  have  typical  examples  of 
spiritual  upheaval  during  adolescence.  Others 
may  be  found  in  Tolstoi's  "Childhood,  Boyhood, 
Youth";  Loti,  "The  Story  of  a  Child";  Jeffries, 
"The  Story  of  My  Heart,"  and  similar  auto- 
biographies. 

Criminal  Tendencies  in  Adolescence. —  The  un- 
stable condition  of  the  nervous  system  at  this 
time  makes  the  individual  specially  liable  to  evil 
suggestion.  It  is  becoming  a  matter  of  general 
belief  that  every  person  possesses  the  capacity, 
in  a  certain  sense,  to  commit  crime;  or  in  other 
ords,  to  revert  to  primitive  modes  of  treating 
the  people  about  him.  In  every  person's  life 
there  are  at  times  struggles  of  greater  or  less 
intensity  between  lower  impulses  ami  the  require- 
ments of  modern  civilized  society.  If  one's  nerv- 
ous mechanism  is  in  good  working  order,  the 
higher  promptings  will  be  able  to  hold  the  lower 
ones  in  check ;  but  in  the  event  of  serious  nervoua 
strain  or  excitement  the  lower  and  more  firmly 
fixed  impulses  are  likely  to  gain  the  right  of 
way.^  This  is  precisely  what  often  happens  in 
the  storm  and  stress  of  adolescence,  as  students 


w 

'    +1, 


THE  CRUCIAL  AGE  21 

of  criminology  well  know.  Professor  Swift,  as 
a  result  of  his  studies  upon  the  inmates  of  the 
Waukesha  (Wisconsin)  reform  school,  says  that 
"The  average  age  at  which  225  boys  were  taken 
to  the  Waukesha  Eeform  School  was  not  quite 
13.7  years.  This  is  the  time  when  the  largest 
amount  of  energy  is  seeking  occupation,  and 
wise  guidance  is  particularly  needed.  Yet  this 
is  exactly  what  these  boys  do  not  get.  They  are 
left  to  the  chance  of  the  street.  At  this  period 
of  life  the  nerve  tissues  are  in  a  hyper-irritable 
state,  and,  as  Clouston  tells  us,  certain  forms  or 
emotional  and  irrational  wilfulness,  immorality, 
impulsiveness,  and  adolescent  insanity  are  not 
uncommon.  Escapades  at  this  time  do  not  neces- 
sarily point  to  a  criminal  nature.  The  excessive  i 
irritability  of  the  nerve  centers,  to  which  the  I 
frequency  of  nervous  disorders  at  this  period 
points,  makes  them  erratically  sensitive. " 

Why  Boys  Leave  School  Early.— When  the 
work  of  the  school  is  formal  and  disciplinary,  the 
chances  are  that  there  will  be  more  or  less  con- 
flict between  the  teacher  and  his  adolescent  boys. 
The  question  is  being  constantly  asked  "Why  do 
boys  leave  school  so  early?"  and  all  sorts  of 
answers  are  forthcoming.  Perhaps  the  following 
instance  will  suggest  one  cause  why  some  boys, 
at  any  rate,  would  rather  be  out  of  school  than 
in  it.  In  a  certain  high  school  in  the  middle  west 
there  are  130  pupils,  59  of  whom  are  boys.  This 


22          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

is  a  rather  larger  proportion  of  masculinity  than 
one  finds  in  most  high  schools,  but  the  people  in 
this  community  have  considerable  wealth,  and 
they  desire  that  their  sons  should  have  the  ad- 
vantages of  an  education.  The  superintendent  of 
schools  says  that  many  of  the  boys  would  rather 
go  to  work,  but  their  parents  compel  them  to 
attend  school. 

The  teachers  are  women,  except  the  principal, 
who  is  also  superintendent  of  schools,  and  who 
teaches  one  class  in  physics.  The  high  school 
was  built  up  a  year  at  a  time  on  the  elementary 
school,  and  the  teachers  grew  up  with  it,  most  of 
them  coming  out  of  the  higher  grades.  They 
have  been  ambitious  to  stay  in  the  high  school, 
so  they  have  dug  away  at  the  subjects  they  teach, 
until  they  seem  able  to  prepare  their  pupils  to 
pass  examinations.  But  with  hardly  an  excep- 
tion, their  teaching  is  formal,  mechanical,  and 
rigidly  exact,  without  life  or  content.  While  the 
writer  was  observing  a  class  in  botany  in  this 
school  one  day,  a  boy  of  eighteen  years  of  age, 
considerably  larger  than  the  teacher,  became  rest- 
less and  inattentive,  and  failed  to  answer  the 
teacher's  questions.  The  work  consisted  in  giv- 
ing the  technical  names  of  the  parts  of  plants, 
which  had  been  analyzed  with  a  view  to  making 
an  herbarium.  All  the  work  of  the  class  had 
been  confined  to  the  learning  of  technical  facts. 
There  had  been  no  study  of  the  life  of  plants. 


THE  CRUCIAL  AGE  23 

Not   a  word  had  been   said   of   their   economic 
values,  or  anything  of  the  kind. 

This  particular  boy  evidently  had  no  interest  in 
the  technical  names  for  plants,  and  he  not  only 
failed  to  give  attention  himself,  but  he  distracted 
the  attention  of  those  next  to  him.  Early  in  the 
recitation  the  teacher  called  him  out  before  the 
class,  and  made  him  stand  there  during  the  hour. 
Of  course  he  was  humiliated ;  and  before  the  hour 
was  over  he  was  sullen  and  angry.  He  left  the 
classroom  in  an  extremely  bad  mood.  It  was 
evident  that  he  had  acquired  a  dislike  for  the 
teacher,  which  was  intensified  by  experiences  of 
this  sort.  The  observer  felt  most  uncomfortable 
himself. 

It  was  really  a  desperate  situation,  for  here 
was  a  teacher  who  knew  little  but  technical  facts, 
which  she  was  trying  to  cram  into  the  head  of  a 
boy  who  could  not  receive  them,  because  nature 
had  implanted  in  him  an  instinct  to  deal  with 
things  that  had  life  and  movement  and  signifi- 
cance. And  this  teacher,  on  account  of  the 
authority  acquired  as  a  result  of  more  or  less 
artificial  relations,  could  discipline  this  boy  so 
as  to  make  him  an  object  of  ridicule  on  the  part 
of  his  fellows.  There  is  nothing  that  will  strike 
deeper  into  a  boy  than  this.  Whether  we  like  it 
or  whether  we  do  not,  masculine  nature  is  con- 
structed on  such  a  plan  that  it  will  resent  and 
resist  experiences  of  this  kind.  Everything  mean 


24  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

will  be  aroused  in  a  boy  under  these  conditions, 
and  the  thing  he  will  try  to  do  above  all  else  will 
be  to  free  himself  from  such  situations.  He 
would  rather  work  his  head  off  outside  of  school 
than  to  study  in  a  classroom  and  be  subjected  to 
such  treatment  as  he  received  on  this  particular 
occasion.  If  the  regimen  of  the  school  could  bev 
made  more  fully  adapted  to  the  needs  of  mascu- 
line nature,  boys  would  wish  to  continue  longer 
in  the  school.  It  is  idle  to  talk  about  ways  and^x 
means  of  keeping  boys  in  school  if  they  must  be 
taught  by  persons  who  have  no  real  grasp  on 
the  things  they  teach,  and  who  do  not  understand 
masculine  interests  and  needs. 

Take  the  motor  type  of  boy  who  strongly  feels 
the  call  of  things,  whose  deepest  impulse  is  to  be 
active,  and  put  him  in  a  schoolroom  where  there 
is  no  action  whatever,  and  where  everything,  even 
the  teacher,  is  static  and  formal,  and  one  has  a 
situation  where  a  tragedy  cannot  be  avoided. 
There  is  bound  to  be  resistance,  inattention,  and  , 
disorder  on  the  part  of  such  a  boy  unless  he  is 
coerced  by  the  teacher.  One  will  always  find 
strain  and  stress  in  such  a  situation,  because  it 
is  not  in  accord  with  nature's  intentions.  This 
does  not  mean  that  our  teaching  must  follow 
nature's  plan  precisely  in  detail;  but  when  one 
flies  straight  in  the  face  of  nature,  he  is  sure  to 
get  the  worst  of  the  conflict  in  the  end. 

The  Problem  of  Over-work  in  the  High  School. — 


THE  CRUCIAL  AGE  25 

Throughout  the  civilized  world  to-day  there  is  a  j 
deepening  conviction  on  the  part  of  physicians,  I 
educationalists,  and  intelligent  laymen  that  the 
school  makes  too  heavy  inroads  upon  the  nervous  j 
energy  of  its  pupils.  In  every  progressive  country 
the  more  observing  people  are  aroused  over  what 
seems  to  be  a  danger  to  the  nervous  health  and 
stability  of  the  rising  generation.  Congresses  of 
local,  national,  and  international  scope  are  calling 
upon  the  proper  authorities  to  give  more  attention 
to  the  physical  welfare  of  the  children  committed 
to  their  care.  With  scarcely  an  exception  the 
physicians  of  France,  Italy,  England,  and  Amer- 
ica, who  have  expressed  themselves  upon  the 
subject  declare  that  a  large  proportion  of  chil- 
dren in  modern  life  are  suffering  from  over- 
strain. 

Surely  the  danger  is  grave  enough;  but  it  does 
not  lie  so  much  in  mental  application  as  in  social 
and  other  excesses  during  adolescence,  and  the 
unhygienic  conditions  under  which  school  work  is 
carried  forward.  It  is  likely  that  study  does  not 
injure  the  adolescent  so  much  as  unhygienic  modes 
of  living  and  dressing.  At  a  time  when  the  body 
is  rapidly  expanding,  it  is  apparent  that  constric- 
tion of  dress  must  seriously  interfere  with  health- 
ful development.  Organs  thus  constricted  are  un- 
able to  attain  complete  development,  and  so  they 
can  not  perform  their  proper  functions  in  the 
body,  and  the  mechanism  as  a  whole  must  suffer 


26          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

in  consequence.  When  the  digestive  system  has 
not  attained  complete  functional  development 
there  must,  of  course,  result  a  lack  of  energy  for 
the  work  of  maturity.  Again,  if  the  eliminative 
organs  do  not  fulfil  their  functions  properly 
trouble  will  follow.  The  breaking  down  of  the 
adolescent,  physicians  are  coming  to  say,  is  due 
more  largely  to  the  incomplete  development  of 
some  vital  organ  which  throws  the  whole  machin- 
ery out  of  gear,  than  to  overstudy,  although  the 
latter  is  at  times  certainly  not  without  serious  con- 
sequences. 

When  the  adolescent  participates  too  actively 
in  society  functions,  he  is  liable  to  waste  his  en- 
ergies. There  are  few  situations  which  lead  to 
greater  dissipation  of  forces  than  "party"  life. 
The  adolescent  girl  is  at  this  time  extremely  sensi- 
tive respecting  the  way  in  which  she  is  regarded 
by  others.  She  is  exceedingly  eager  to  secure  the 
applause  of  all  about  her,  and  her  mind  works 
with  intense  activity  to  obtain  the  ends  she  so 
much  desires.  "Slights"  sink  deeply,  and  they 
may  give  rise  to  broodings  which  are  as  poison  to 
an  already  over-tense  nervous  system.  Inhibitions 
and  restraints  are  thrown  off,  and  the  machinery 
may  run  on  until  it  may  wear  itself  out. 

The  Increasing  Nervous  Strain  in  Life. —  As 
life  grows  more  complex  with  any  individual,  ner- 
vous strain  and  stress  become  more  intense  with 
him.  This  is  a  commonplace,  but  it  has  a  bearing 


THE  CRUCIAL  AGE  27 

upon  educational  work  which  many  have  not  ap- 
preciated. In  peaceful  rural  communities  there  is 
probably  no  danger  yet  of  our  urging  youth  be- 
yond a  safe  limit  of  nervous  health  and  stability. 
But  how  is  it  in  the  city  ?  In  a  recent  work  of  great 
merit,  Forel,  the  eminent  Italian  alienist,  -has 
called  attention  to  the  factors  in  modern  life  that 
produce  nervous  overstrain  and  mental  disturb- 
ance; and  the  school  plays  an  important  role  in 
unsettling  the  nervous  system  of  youth.  Often 
teachers — or  rather  those  who  lay  out  their  work 
for  them — forget  that  pupils  live  much  more  in- 
tensely to-day  in  the  home  and  on  the  street  than 
they  did  a  half  or  even  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago. 
As  culture  increases;  as  books  and  pictures  and 
music  become  more  plentiful;  as  the  telephone 
brings  the  young  together  more  frequently  for 
social  intercourse ;  in  short  as  the  objects  of  inter- 
est increase  in  the  environment,  the  individual 
must  make  a  correspondingly  greater  effort  to 
adjust  himself  to  them.  To  read  a  book  expends 
energy;  to  study  a  picture  expends  energy;  to 
learn  to  play  or  sing  expends  energy;  to  respond 
to  people  on  the  streets  expends  energy;  to  par- 
ticipate in  a  " party"  expends  energy.  Now, 
multiply  all  these  things  in  a  child's  environment, 
as  we  are  doing  everywhere,  for  this  is  what  cul- 
ture means,  and  you  may  reach  the  point  where 
his  nervous  resources  will  be  overtaxed.  JAdd  to 
all  these  a  constantly  enlarging  school  program 


28          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

which  pupils  must  complete,  and  one  has  a  situa- 
tion which  should  receive  very  serious  considera- 
tion from  teachers  as  'well  as  parents. 

A  Typical  Case  of  Overstrain  in  the  School. — 
In  one  of  the  leading  high  schools  in  this  country, 
the  strenuous  ideal  is  carried  to  the  limit.  The 
pupils  are  all  required  to  be  in  their  seats  ready 
for  the  day's  work  at  8:30  A.  M.  The  first  heat 
lasts  from  8:30  until  12:30  without  a  break.  It 
requires  a  minute  or  two  for  the  classes  to  pass 
from  one  recitation  room  to  another ;  but  otherwise 
the  pupils  hardly  stand  on  their  feet  during  the 
course  of  four  hours.  In  some  cases  pupils  sit 
continually  for  two  hours.  The  school  authorities 
acknowledge  that  this  does  not  seem  to  be  right 
from  a  physical  standpoint ;  but  they  say  they  can- 
not plan  the  day's  program  so  as  to  provide  for 
intermissions,  and  accomplish  all  that  is  required 
of  them  in  the  regular  work.  The  school  is  a  large 
one,  and  the  machinery  required  to  keep  it  running 
smoothly  is  very  complex,  so  that  it  seems  the 
welfare  of  individual  pupils  must  be  sacrificed  to 
some  extent. 

Not  Less  Work  but  Less  Waste. —  Now,  it  is  not 
at  all  certain  that  the  typical  high  school  is  requir- 
ing more  intellectual  work  of  a  pupil  than  he  ought 
to  do,  if  he  could  only  do  it  in  the  most  economical 
way.  But  to  keep  anyone,  especially  an  adolescent 
boy  or  girl,  continuously  at  work  for  four  hours, 
sitting  practically  all  the  time  in  poorly  ventilated 


•THE  CRUCIAL  AGE*  29 

and  lighted  rooms  and  in  ill-adjusted  seats  is  the 
next  thing  to  manslaughter.  It  will  sound  com- 
monplace to  many  to  say  that  economy  and  effici- 
ency would  be  promoted  by  breaking  up  this  four- 
hour  stretch  into  four  periods,  with  ten  minute 
intervals  of  freedom.  Investigations  made  at 
home  and  abroad  warrant  one  in  asserting  that 
more  can  be  accomplished  with  greater  freshness 
and  interest  and  less  fatigue  in  relatively  short 
periods  of  concentrated  work  than  in  long  un- 
broken periods,  when  pupils  remain  seated  a 
large  part  of  the  time.  An  immature  organism 
cannot  well  endure  a  four-hour  period  of  con- 
tinuous application  to  anything.  Young  pupils 
certainly  cannot  react  effectively  to  educative 
stimulation  under  such  a  regime.  It  is  not  ad- 
vocated that  the  amount  of  work  required  of 
pupils  be  materially  lessened,  but  only  that  the 
conditions  under  which  this  work  is  done  be  de- 
termined with  due  regard  to  the  needs  of  high- 
school  pupils  in  respect  to  the  principles  of 
mental  economy  and  hygiene. 

Practicable  Means  of  Avoiding  Overstrain. — 
In  the  school  referred  to  above,  there  is  a  well- 
equipped  gymnasium;  and  it  would  be  a  simple 
matter  so  to  organize  the  school  that  every  pupil 
would  have  twenty  minutes  of  gymnastic  exercise 
during  the  morning  session.  This  would,  in  a  way 
at  least,  offset  the  disadvantages  of  long  sitting 
in  such  seats  as  are  found  in  the  typical  school. 


30          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

This  gymnastic  exercise  would  release  the  intel- 
lectual centers  of  the  brain,  and  call  into  play  the 
motor  areas,  thus  tending  to  preserve  a  healthy 
balance  in  cerebral  functions.  If  there  be  no  gym- 
nasium in  a  school  building,  then  a  period  of 
marching,  of  freehand  exercise  in  the  assembly 
room,  or  of  running  out-of-doors  should  be  pro- 
vided. With  all  its  disadvantages,  this  will  be 
better  than  continuous  application  for  an  entire 
session. 

In  addition  to  the  period  of  physical  relaxation, 
it  is  highly  desirable  to  arrange  for  a  ten  or  fifteen 
minute  recess,  when  pupils  may  eat  a  sandwich 
if  they  feel  hungry,  as  is  apt  to  be  the  case  when 
they  have  had  breakfast  before  eight  o'clock,  and 
cannot  have  luncheon  until  about  one  o'clock.  A 
hungry  child  is  not  in  a  condition  to  profit  best  by 
classroom  instruction ;  and  moreover,  it  is  not  con- 
ducive to  physical  well-being  for  most  pupils  to 
go  for  such  long  periods  without  nutrition. 

High-School  Athletics. —  The  best  safeguard  of 
youth  is  a  wholesome  life  out-of-doors  in  games 
and  plays.  But  there  are  dangers  here,  too. 
Throughout  the  country  to-day  there  is  a  growing 
tendency  to  restrain  high-school  students  in  their 
athletic  activities.  Reports  have  been  made  to  the 
effect  that  a  number  of  boards  of  education  have 
adopted  rules  prohibiting  inter-academic  athletic 
contests.  There  seem  to  be  a  number  of  valid  rea- 
sons why  such  action  is  justifiable,  at  least  in  many 


THE  CRUCIAL  AGE  31 

communities.  The  chief  interest  in  athletics  in 
some  high  schools  is  to  develop  a  winning  team. 
The  majority  of  the  pupils  do  not  engage  in  play- 
ing games  themselves ;  they  simply  "root"  for  the 
team.  And  when  a  school  celebrates  the  glories  of 
a  winning  team,  the  celebrants  often  go  to  excesses 
of  various  sorts  in  their  demonstrations.  Perhaps 
the  most  serious  objection  to  present  tendencies  is 
that  high-school  boys  are  undoubtedly  injured 
sometimes  because  of  overstrain  in  athletic  com- 
petition. Within  the  past  few  years  there  have 
been  a  number  of  cases,  mentioned  in  the  maga- 
zines and  the  press,  of  breakdown  of  boys  from  un- 
due effort  in  athletics.  At  recent  meetings  of  phy- 
sical education  societies  and  some  of  the  depart- 
ments of  the  National  Education  Association,  phy- 
sicians and  others  have  called  attention  to  the 
danger  of  athletic  overstrain,  especially  among 
immature  high-school  boys. 

Injury  from  Athletics. — Some  men  on  racing 
crews  deteriorate  when  they  break  training.  In 
several  universities  abundant  evidence  has  been 
secured  showing  that  a  considerable  proportion  of 
men  who  row  enlarge  their  hearts  to  such  an  ex- 
tent that  when  training  ceases  and  they  stop  tak- 
ing exercise  degeneration  sets  in.  It  is  probable 
that  at  least  one-half  of  all  men  who  engage  in 
hard  athletic  contests  suffer  overstrain  which 
will  tell  on  them  sooner  or  later. 

Eowing  contests  are  more  severe  on  the  heart 


32          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

than  most  other  athletic  contests  probably,  unless 
it  be  basket-ball  or  sprinting.  In  baseball,  football, 
hockey,  or  the  like,  there  are  brief  periods  of  rest 
as  the  game  proceeds  so  that  a  player  may  catch 
his  breath;  but  when  the  rowing  race  is  on,  it  is 
impossible  to  call  out  time  for  any  reason.  Every 
man  must  do  his  best  even  if  he  drops  in  the  bottom 
of  the  boat,  which  sometimes  happens.  Running 
contests,  unless  they  be  very  short,  are  as  damag- 
ing to  later  health  as  rowing.  When  a  boy  drops 
on  the  ground  in  a  faint  at  the  end  of  a  race,  the 
chances  are  that  he  is  injured,  and  that  he  will 
not  fully  recover  from  it. 

Presumably  the  purpose  of  athletics  is  to  de- 
velop strength  and  health.  But  actually  we  are  not 
accomplishing  this  purpose  because  we  are  carry- 
ing inter-academic  athletic  contests  too  far.  We 
should  try  to  establish  the  practice  of  engaging  in 
athletics  for  pleasure,  for  relaxation,  and  for  the 
building  of  the  body. 

Now  look  at  another  aspect  of  this  matter, —  the 
athletic  program  in  the  typical  high-school.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  year  all  the  boys  are  urged  to 
try  out  for  the  various  teams.  The  best  developed 
and  the  physically  strongest  boys  make  the  teams. 
What  happens  to  those  who  are  not  well  developed, 
who  are  not  strong,  and  who  need  athletic  train- 
ing? They  are  crowded  to  the  side  lines  to  look  on. 
What  can  be  said  for  a  system  that  selects  out 
those  who  are  already  well  trained  and  who  are 


THE  CRUCIAL  AGE  33 

least  in  need  of  further  training,  and  devotes  prac- 
tically all  the  energies  and  resources  of  an  institu- 
tion to  these  few  individuals? 

Physical  Training  by  Proxy. —  In  some  high 
schools,  most  of  the  pupils  are  not  permitted  to 
use  the  gymnasium  after  school  hours  because  it  is 
required  for  the  teams.  The  teams  are  trained 
every  day,  though  they  are  least  in  need  of  train- 
ing. In  such  high  schools  the  boys  who  most  need 
exercise  have  only  one  or  two  short  periods  a 
week.  If  these  outcasts  do  manage  to  get  up  a 
team,  they  cannot  very  well  take  care  of  them- 
selves. In  some  schools  the  physical  training 
teachers  devote  nine-tenths  of  their  energies  to 
a  few  boys  on  the  teams  who  could  quite  well 
get  on  without  their  services. 

If  this  is  good  educational  policy,  then  the  rest 
of  our  educational  system  must  have  gone  hope- 
lessly awry.  In  teaching  mathematics,  or  history, 
or  science,  or  any  other  subject,  we  do  not  think  a 
few  pupils  should  be  selected  out  because  of  their 
superior  ability  and  given  all  the  attention  of  the 
teachers,  while  the  others  are  left  to  shift  for  them- 
selves. There  is  nothing  good  to  be  said  for  this 
vicious  system,  which  puts  all  the  emphasis  on 
teams  and  allows  the  rest  of  the  pupils  to  secure 
their  athletic  training  by  standing  around  twid- 
dling their  thumbs  while  the  teams  perform. 

This  does  not  mean  that  there  should  not  be 
teams  in  a  high  school.  There  should  be  teams, 


34  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

But  if  they  cannot  be  trained  without  sacrificing 
the  rest  of  the  pupils,  then  tiiey  should  be  aban- 
doned. It  would  be  better  to  give  less  attention  to 
the  teams  and  more  to  the  mass, —  better  for  every- 
one concerned.  As  it  is  now  in  many  schools,  mem- 
bers of  the  teams  are  often  over-trained  so  that 
they  are  injured,  whereas  the  great  bulk  of  pupils 
are  under-trained. 

Inter-scholastic  Competition. —  Will  not  those 
who  have  charge  of  physical  training  in  the  high 
school  get  together  and  agree  to  reduce  the  impor- 
tance attached  to  inter-scholastic  competition? 
This  wasteful,  inefficient,  harmful  system  should 
not  persist  forever.  Some  schools  have  already 
solved  the  problem.  "While  these  schools  have 
teams,  they  do  not  permit  their  teams  to  monopo- 
lize the  time,  energy,  and  opportunities  of  the 
athletic  trainers,  the  gymnasium,  the  athletic 
fields,  and  so  on. 

There  is  another  reason  why  it  is  important  to 
reduce  the  importance  attached  to  teams  and  inter- 
scholastic  competition  in  high  schools.  In  some 
schools  the  only  road  to  distinction  lies  through 
athletic  superiority.  One  can  hear  pupils  in  such 
schools  say:  "We  want  to  make  the  team.  One 
can't  have  any  standing  in  this  school  unless  he 
can  get  on  a  team.  If  I  can't  make  a  team,  I  am 
going  to  drop  out  of  school."  Every  reader  of 
these  lines  probably  knows  pupils  who  have  left 
school  because  they  could  not  make  a  team.  There 


THE  CRUCIAL  AGE  35 

was  nothing  else  in  school  which  was  BO  desirable 
as  making  a  team. 

In  these  distracting  times,  we  need  to  exalt  gen- 
uine intellectual  work  in  every  way  possible.  We 
should  hold  up  for  public  admiration  pupils  who 
excel  in  intellectual  activities.  Their  names  should 
be  put  in  the  papers.  They  should  be  cheered  by 
their  fellows.  Just  so  long  as  the  athletic  hero 
receives  all  the  applause  of  his  fellows,  just  so 
long  will  athletics  be  the  chief  attraction  for  most 
boys.  They  will  put  forth  their  effort  in  that  and 
not  in  an  intellectual  direction. 

Physical  Training  of  Girls. —  Now  what  about 
our  girls?  One  who  has  a  chance  to  observe  the 
^girls  in  graduating  classes  in  different  high  schools 
can  hardly  fail  to  be  impressed  with  the  lack  of 
proper  physical  development  which  they  fre- 
quently exhibit.  It  will  be  safe  to  say  that  at 
least  one-third  of  the  girls  who  graduate  from 
high  school  have  curvature  of  the  spine,  or  their 
shoulders  are  not  even,  or  they  stand  in  a  bad 
position,  or  they  have  too  much  flesh  or  too  little. 
Investigations  made  recently  in  California  showed 
that  about  three-fourths  of  the  girls  who  go  to 
college  and  university  are  not  in  good  form 
physically. 

What  is  the  cause  of  this  condition?  The  pre- 
vailing theory  is  that  high-heeled  shoes,  constric- 
tion from  dress,  and  lack  of  any  systematic  exer- 
cise are  responsible  for  the  physical  deficiencies 


36  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

of  girls.  But  the  chief  reason  why  girls  are  so 
poorly  developed  is  because  practically  no  atten- 
tion has  been  given  to  their  physical  training. 
In  some  schools  girls  do  not  have  any  regular 
physical  exercise.  They  are  not  given  advice 
by  capable  teachers  regarding  their  particular 
defects  and  how  to  overcome  them.  Many  of  the 
bodily  defects  of  girls  are  due  to  habitual  bend- 
ing over  desks,  which  may  cause  curvature  of  the 
spine,  which  in  turn  may  cause  other  troubles. 

We  are  probably  getting  better  rather  than 
worse  in  this  respect.  There  is  not  so  much 
prolonged  sitting  in  seats  as  there  used  to  be; 
seats  are  being  adapted  to  individual  pupils; 
and  the  value  of  healthful  physical  development 
is  coming  to  appeal  to  the  layman  as  well  as  to 
the  teacher.  But  there  is  one  problem  which  has 
not  been  solved  yet  in  most  schools.  Girls  are 
not  given  instruction  regarding  their  individual 
needs  in  respect  to  exercises  and  general  physical 
training  and  hygiene. 

How  would  it  do  to  adopt  a  policy  that  no  girl 
(or  boy  for  that  matter)  should  be  graduated  from 
a  high  school  who  showed  marked  physical  de- 
fects? Suppose  this  could  be  impressed  upon 
pupils  in  the  freshman  class ;  would  they  not  give 
attention  to  the  matter  and  come  through  at  the 
end  of  the  high-school  course  in  better  physical 
shape  than  some  of  them  do  now?  The  principle 
of  giving  marks  for  physical  development  and 


THE  CRUCIAL  AGE  37 

wellbeing  is  recognized  in  the  selection  of  teachers, 
and  in  some  places  in  admission  to  college.  The 
best  place  to  put  the  principle  into  effect  is  down 
in  the  seventh  and  eighth  grades,  and  in  the  high 
school,  when  a  pupil's  body  is  growing  rapidly 
and  taking  on  its  final  form. 


CHAPTER  II 
BOY  PROBLEMS 

" Breaking  the  Law." — Recently  five  boys, 
ranging  from  thirteen  to  fifteen  years  of  age,  were 
arrested  for  breaking  into  a  hardware  store  and 
taking  some  tools.  They  live  in  a  small  town  of 
about  twelve  hundred  inhabitants.  The  boys  have 
told  the  story  of  how  they  came  to  this  stage  in 
their  career.  They  did  not  like  their  school  work. 
They  had  got  into  the  habit  of  loafing  on  the 
streets  at  night.  They  early  learned  to  smoke  and 
they  spent  all  the  change  they  could  get  for 
cigarettes.  They  devoted  much  of  their  time  when 
out  of  school  prowling  around  for  the  sake  of 
adventure.  There  are  two  poolrooms  in  this  town, 
and  almost  every  night  the  boys  would  visit  both 
of  them.  They  listened  to  rough,  vicious  talk  in 
the  poolrooms.  They  heard  men  say  that  it  was  a 
clever,  manly  trick  for  boys  to  take  chances  with 
the  law.  These  men  ridiculed  the  conventions  and 
morals  of  daily  life,  and  the  boys  began  to  think 
that  nobody  but  a  " sissy"  would  stay  at  home 
nights  and  read,  study,  or  go  to  bed. 

The  boys  declared  that  when  they  broke  into 
the  hardware  store  they  did  not  intend  to  steal 

38 


BOY  PROBLEMS  39 

tools  enough  to  make  much  difference  to  the  pro- 
prietor. They  wished  to  show  that  they  dared  to 
do  certain  "stunts"  which  they  heard  men  brag- 
ging about  in  the  poolrooms.  Besides,  they 
wanted  to  go  off  on  a  hike  and  forage  on  the  way. 
They  needed  a  few  tools  which  they  could  not  get 
at  home;  and  even  if  they  could  have  got  them, 
they  did  not  want  their  parents  to  know  they  were 
planning  an  escapade. 

The  boys  maintained  that  they  were  no  worse 
than  most  of  the  boys  in  their  town.  They  "hap- 
pened" to  break  into  the  store,  but  they  declared 
that  a  number  of  their  pals  would  just  as  soon 
have  done  it  if  they  had  thought  they  could  have 
made  a  good  escape.  All  these  boys  are  on  the 
street  much  of  the  time.  It  is  apparent  where 
they  got  their  ideals,  and  what  sort  of  concep- 
tion they  have  formed  of  how  a  boy  should  con- 
duct himself. 

(Boy  Life  in  Small  Towns.^-  The  writer  has  in- 
vestigated a  number  of  towns  in  which  boy  life  is 
about  on  the  same  plane  as  in  the  town  men- 
tioned; and  many  investigators  have  reported 
similar  conditions  in  their  respective  localities. 
There  is  little  that  is  wholesome  and  interesting 
for  the  boys  in  these  towns  to  do  when  they  are 
not  in  school.  The  "substantial"  men  of  these 
places  have  made  their  "pile"  and  they  do  not 
want  to  spend  any  of  it  on  "fads"  and  "frills." 
When  it  is  proposed  that  they  should  help  to  build 


40          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

a  gymnasium  or  establish  a  public  playground 
with  suitable  apparatus  for  the  boys,  they  pooh- 
pooh  at  the  plan.  They  say  they  did  not  have 
such  things  when  they  were  young,  and  they  do 
not  propose  to  furnish  them  for  the  rising  genera- 
tion. 

The  churches  in  these  towns  are,  as  a  rule,  in- 
effective in  dealing  with  boys.  The  Sunday  serv- 
ices do  not  appeal  to  them.  In  many  towns  there 
is  not  a  church  that  offers  any  attractions  that 
meet  the  needs  of  boys  during  the  teens.  Most 
of  the  boys  have  no  affiliation  with  the  churches  in 
any  way;  even  at  an  early  age  they  boast  about 
their  antagonism  to  it.  They  say  that  church  peo- 
ple are  "sissified."  They  hear  this  talk  in  the 
poolrooms,  and  they  catch  it  up  quickly  and  think 
it  is  a  smart  thing  to  ridicule  any  boy  who  goes  to 
church  or  Sunday-school,  or  who  does  not  sub- 
scribe to  all  the  by-laws  of  the  gang. 
Clf  the  churches  in  these  towns  had  swimming 
pools  or  bowling  alleys  or  moving  picture  exhibits 
or  basket  ball  courts  or  similar  facilities,  they 
might  attract  boys  and  keep  them  off  the  street 
and  out  of  the  poolrooms.  Would  it  not  be  worth 
wrhile  to  accomplish  this  ^ven  if  the  Sunday  serv- 
ices were  not  quite  so  elaborate,  or  so  satisfactory 
to  adults?  -^Which  is  of  greater  consequence  in 
religious  work — to  lead  the  older  people  of  the 
town  into  church  on  Sunday,  or  to  entice  the  boys 
off  the  streets  every  night  in  the  week  and  keep 


BOY  PROBLEMS  41 

them  away  from  the  poolrooms,  the  livery  stables, 
the  barber  shops,  and  the  railway  stations?; 

The  Schools  in  Small  Towns.  —  The  schools  in 
small  towns  often  fail  to  win  and  hold  boys.  The 
five  boys  referred  to  at  the  outset  who  are  now 
serving  time  in  a  reform  school  say  they  disliked 
the  work  of  their  school,  which  consists  largely  in 
learning  books  by  heart.  There  is  no  manual 
training,  very  little  gymnastic  work,  no  organized 
plays  and  games,  and  but  little  laboratory  science. 
The  principal  and  his  teachers  have  asked  the 
board  of  education  for  equipment  for  a  manual 
training  room,  but  some  of  the  members  of  the 
board  think  "manual  training  is  all  f ol-de-rol. 9 J 
They  say  they  will  not  support  any  of  the  new- 
fangled notions  about  schools.  Meanwhile,  the 
boys  are  going  to  perdition,  and  the  "substan- 
tial" men  are  letting  them  go. 

Several  of  the  men  in  this  town  who  have  op- 
posed innovations  in  school  work  have  said  in 
substance :  "When  we  were  boys  we  had  to  work. 
But  the  boys  in  this  town  won't  do  anything.  They 
run  the  streets  when  they  ought  to  be  doing 
chores.  They  have  too  much  done  for  them  al- 
ready. We  don't  propose  to  pamper  them  any 
more.  The  principal  wants  a  room  fitted  up  with 
tools  for  these  fellows  to  fool  around  in,  but  we 
won't  spend  our  money  in  that  way.  What  time 
we  had  for  going  to  school  we  put  in  learning  our 
lessons,  and  that  is  what  these  boys  ought  to  be 


42          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

doing.  If  they  want  to  work  they  can  get  plenty 
of  it  around  their  homes." 

New  Times  Bring  New  Problems. —  The  chief 
difficulty  in  bringing  up  children  in  towns  and 
cities  to-day  arises  from  the  fact  that  those  who 
control  the  resources  do  not  recognize  that  we  are 
undergoing  sociological  changes  which  make  new 
methods  of  training  imperative.  Most  of  these 
adults  spent  their  boyhood  in  the  country.  Every- 
one  works  in  the  country.  There  is  no  trouble  in 
keeping  boys  properly  occupied  on  the  farm.  A 
person  in  the  country  who  would  not  work  would 
be  ostracized ;  but  it  is  just  the  other  way  in  town. 
Everything  encourages  loafing.  If  a  boy  in  the 
country  could  go  to  a  poolroom  and  hear  the  talk 
there  he  might  become  a  loafer  too,  unless  there 
was  great  pressure  put  on  him  to  keep  at  work. 

When  the  boy  life  of  a  town  is  unorganized; 
when  neither  the  school  nor  the  church  nor  the 
parents  can  keep  boys  occupied  in  wholesome 
ways,  then  they  will  loaf.  They  will  congregate 
in  places  where  much  that  they  hear  encourages 
vicious  speech  and  conduct,  and  the  chances  are 
that  sooner  or  later  some  or  all  of  them  will  be- 
copae  offenders  in  one  way  or  another. 

The  individual  home  cannot,  as  a  rule,  solve 
many  of  the  problems  of  training  its  boys  prop- 
erly. Any  one  boy  cannot  be  kept  in  his  house 
without  strain  and  stress  when  the  other  boys  in 
the  neighborhood  are  running  the  streets  and 


BOY  PROBLEMS  43 

plotting  deviltry.  Training  children  in  these 
times  is  a  community  problem  largely.  Reformers 
might  better  save  their  breath  than  to  be  con- 
demning the  modern  home  because  it  does  not 
keep  boys  off  the  streets.  We  are  a  gregarious 
people,  and  we  must  solve  most  of  our  problems 
collectively.  \^, 

"My  Boy  Will  Not  Stay  at  Home."— In  this 
connection  one  is  reminded  of  the  complaint  which 
is  so  frequently  heard, — ' '  My  boy  will  not  stay  at 
home."  It  is  made  by  fathers  and  mothers  who 
have  provided  comfortable  homes  for  their  boys 
as  well  as  by  parents  whose  means  require  them 
to  live  in  a  meager  way.  It  is  particularly  dis- 
tressing to  a  parent  to  have  his  boys  inapprecia- 
tive  and  uninterested  when  he  has,  as  he  thinks, 
put  everything  in  his  home  that  the  children  could 
desire. 

A  letter  now  lies  before  the  writer  from  a 
father  who  says  that  he  has  struggled  hard  to 
provide  a  good  home  for  his  children,  but  his  old- 
est boy,  who  is  well  along  in  the  teens,  will  often 
leave  the  house  as  soon  as  he  finishes  a  meal,  and 
he  may  not  put  in  an  appearance  again  until  the 
next  meal.  He  takes  no  member  of  the  family 
into  his  confidence  as  to  his  adventures  and  his 
hanging-out  places.  The  father  says  he  is 
"glum"  and  does  not  say  much  at  the  table  or 
any  place  else  in  the  house  unless  he  is  continually 
"pumped."  He  seems  to  regard  his  home  prin- 


44          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

cipally  as  a  place  in  which  to  eat  and  get  what- 
ever supplies  he  needs. 

A  Boy  Loves  Adventure. —  A  boy  in  the  teens 
must  have  some  adventure.  He  should  have  ^op- 
portunity to  be  out  in  the  open  engaged  in  ex- 
ploits of  some  kind.  His  parents  will  choose  for 
themselves  to  stay  at  home  and  read,  or  enjoy  the 
\  beautiful  objects  they  have  gathered  together  in 
r  house.  They  know  what  it  requires  to  make 
an  attractive  home,  and  for  them  everything  they 
have  acquired  has  interesting  and  vital  associa- 
tions. So  as  a  rule  they  would  prefer  to  be  among 
the  treasures  they  have  collected  than  to  be  else- 
where. But  a  boy  who  has  not  by  his  own  efforts 
provided  anything  for  the  home  generally  do^s 
not  and  cannot  feel  attachment  for  what  may  pro- 
foundly interest  the  parents.  A  boy  in  the  teens 
is  not  affected  much  by  an  esthetic  home.  He 
may  live  in  a  house  filled  with  beautiful  objects 
and  not  know  they  are  there.  He  is  more  nomadic 
than  he  is  domestic.  His  father  has  passed 
through  the  period  when  he  finds  pleasure  in  the 
adventurous  life.  He  prefers  the  peace  and  com- 
fort of  his  own  fireside;  but  if  he  could  go  back 
over  his  life  he  would  probably  discover  that 
when  he  was  in  the  teens  a  cozy  fireside  had  little 
if  any  attraction  for  him.  He  was  not  domesti- 
cated then.  He  hearkened  to  the  call  of  adven- 
ture just  as  his  boy  does  now. 
Parents  frequently  say,  "My  house  is  furnished 


BOY  PROBLEMS  45 

with  everything  a  boy  could  wish. ' '  Is  this  really 
true?  Usually  it  is  not  true.  (The  house  is  fur- 
nished with  everything  the  parents  could  wish, 
and  they  conclude  that  what  they  enjoy  should 
make  a  strong  appeal  to  their  bojrT)  It  is  an  old 
story, —  the  inability  of  the  typical  adult  to  take 
the  point  of  view  of  youth. 

(Most  parents  of  means  do  not  equip  their  home 
so  that  it  will  minister  to  the  needs  of  an  adven- 
turous youthj  It  is  often  the  case  that  the  more 
luxuriously  the  home  is  furnished  the  less  effect- 
ively it  will  be  adapted  to  the  requirements  of  boy 
life  during  the  teens.  In  an  elegantly  furnished 
home  everyone  has  to  be  careful  lest  he  may  in- 
jure the  valuable  articles.  Such  a  home  must  be 
enjoyed  by  appreciation,  not  by  use.  Adults  will 
express  admiration  for  the  beauty  and  exquisite- 
ness  of  this  or  that  article,  but  they  will  not  use 
it  in  any  way.  But  youth  is  not  appreciative  as  a 
rule.  It  is  dynamic,  insurgent.  Ci  home  that  is  / 
furnished  with  everything  a  boy  could  wish  is  / 
provided  with  objects  that  can  be  used./  In  such 
a  home  there  will  be  space  for  games,  and  espe- 
cially for  scuffling  and  horse-play.  As  a  rule,  a 
boy  will  leave  a  home  in  which  he  has  no  oppor- 
tunity to  scuffle,  and  he  will  go  where  he  can 
indulge  this  passion. 

The  Boy  Who  Is  "Picked  On."—  One  reason 
why  boys  often  will  not  stay  in  elegant  homes  is 
because  somebody  may  always  be  "picking  on 


46          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

them."  A  boy  was  overheard  recently  to  make 
just  this  statement  to  his  mother.  He  has  irri- 
tated her  because  he  is  indifferent  to  the  advan- 
tages in  his  beautiful  home.  She  is  trying  to 
make  him  appreciative  and  so  she  is  really  "pick- 
ing on"  him  much  of  the  time.  He  is  one  of  those 
boys  who  swallows  his  food  at  each  meal,  and 
then  lights  out  for  parts  unknown.  Whenever  he 
is  in  the  house  he  has  to  answer  questions  about 
where  he  has  been  last,  what  he  has  been  doing, 
what  he  proposes  to  do  next,  why  he  does  not 
do  differently,  why  he  does  not  talk  more,  and 
so  on. 

One  principle  can  be  stated  emphatically — a 
person  cannot  develop  a  boy's  love  for  his  home 
by  "bawling  him  out"  because  he  will  not  stay 
at  home.  It  will  do  no  good  to  lecture  him  about 
the  efforts  that  have  been  put  forth  to  make  his 
home  comfortable.  One  can  never  develop  ap- 
preciation in  anybody  by  complaining  because  he 
is  indifferent.  Appreciation  cannot  be  forced; 
it  must  always  be  spontaneously  expressed. 

A  parent  should  find  out  what  kind  of  homes 
attract  his  wandering  boy.  If  the  influences  in 
these  homes  are  wholesome,  then  let  him  go  to 
them.  He  will  get  better  training  in  them  than 
he  will  in  his  own  home  probably  if  he  is  con- 
tinually "picked  on."  He  may  in  time  come  to 
realize  what  a  good  home  he  has  had,  even  if  dur- 
ing the  adventurous  age  he  seems  inappreciative 


BOY  PROBLEMS  47 

of  what  is  done  for  him.  Then  it  should  be  re- 
membered that  a  boy  must  eventually  live  with 
other  people,  and  he  should  spend  considerable 
time  with  them  as  a  boy,  either  in  his  own  home 
or  in  their  homes.  He  will  be  broader  and  better 
prepared  for  life  if  he  is  not  kept  too  much  in  his 
own  home,  or  at  least  with  the  members  of  his 
own  family. 

If  a  boy  persists  in  leaving  his  home  for  the 
street  or  the  poolhall  or  the  saloon  it  is  a  differ- 
ent matter.  There  is  but  one  course  to  follow  in 
such  a  case, — he  should  change  his  associations; 
he  should  be  sent  off  among  strangers  who  will 
help  him  to  observe  a  regular  program  of  study 
or  work.  It  is  frequently  true  that  a  boy  who 
will  never  stay  at  home  will,  when  he  goes  out 
into  the  world,  apply  himself  to  a  systematic 
regime  of  work  or  study.  There  is  no  good  at 
all  in  keeping  a  boy  at  home  who  is  forming  the 
habit  of  running  the  streets  in  search  of  excite- 
ment. 

Boys  Need  Comrades,  Not  Disciplinarians. — 
Problems  of  this  kind  could  ordinarily  be  solved 
satisfactorily  if  parents  and  teachers  and  their 
boys  could  be  comrades  together.  (Unfortunately 
many  of  us  are  better  disciplinarians  than  we  are 
good  friends  to  our  boys.  (We  do  not  talk  to 
them  much  about  any  subject  except  their  con- 
duct. So  they  come  in  time  to  be  uncomfortable 
in  our  presence,  and  they  avoid  us  as  much  as 


48          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

they  can,  even  when  we  sacrifice  a  good  deal  to 
provide  comforts  and  advantages  for  them.  It 
would  be  better  usually  if  our  children  were  not 
informed  so  frequently  that  we  were  sacrificing 
much  for  them.  We  would  keep  a  firmer  hold  on 
them  if  they  could  think  of  us  as  good  scouts  and 
companions  rather  than  as  conscientious  but 
fault-finding  providers.  Some  of  the  time  which 
is  used  in  amassing  luxuries  for  our  offspring 
might  better  be  spent  in  being  good  fellows 
with  them. 

As  for  the  boy  who  leaves  a  home  pinched  by 
poverty,  in  which  there  is  neither  room  nor  equip- 
ment adapted  to  his  needs,  the  community  should 
provide  opportunities  for  him  to  spend  his  leisure 
hours  in  a  wholesome  way.  Like  so  many  of  our 
problems  relating  to  the  training  of  youth,  this 
one  can  be  solved  only  by  dealing  with  the 
sociological  factors  involved.  The  parents  in  a 
neighborhood  should  cooperate  to  abolish  the  at- 
tractions which  seduce  youth,  and  to  put  in  their 
place  institutions  which  will  furnish  suitable  oc- 
cupation and  amusement.  Unless  this  can  be 
done  we  cannot  remedy  the  evils  that  harrass  us. 
We  have  plenty  of  illustrations  of  this  fact  in 
the  experiences  of  those  who  have  preceded  us, 
and  who  have  tried  to  solve  these  problems  by 
prohibition  or  punishment  alone,  or  by  indiffer- 
ence. They  have  failed  every  time,  and  we  will 
come  to  the  same  end  if  we  adopt  their  methods. 


BOY  PROBLEMS  49 

"  Scrapping." — We  may  glance  now  at  a  dif- 
ferent kind  of  problem  with  which  parents  and 
teachers  have  to  deal  in  training  boys.  A  prin- 
cipal of  a  public  school  complains  that  she  is 
unable  to  prevent  the  boys  in  her  school  from 
"scrapping"  on  the  playground  during  inter- 
missions. She  inquires  whether  there  is  the  same 
difficulty  in  other  schools.  She  says  she  cannot 
understand  why  there  should  be  so  much  quarrel- 
ing among  her  boys  because  they  come  from 
"  good  homes." 

No  matter  what  sort  of  a  home  a  boy  comes 
from,  he  is  likely  to  get  into  a  combat  with  some 
of  his  fellows  on  the  playground  unless  special 
pains  are  taken  to  keep  him  interested  and  occu- 
pied in  organized  games  and  plays.  Leave  a 
group  of  boys  up  to  the  middle  teens  to  their 
own  devices,  and  unless  they  are  unusually  re- 
sourceful in  planning  games  for  themselves,  they 
will  probably  have  a  "scrap"  before  they  break 
up. 

\Every  boy  is  pugnacious  by  inheritance,;  His 
remote  ancestors  were  fighters ;  they  had  to  fight  \ 
for  self-preservation.  Boys  from  "good  homes" 
are  about  as  likely  to  pick  a  fight  as  boys  who 
are  not  so  well  favored.  It  is  true  that  the  boys 
from  the  slums  and  alleys  are  as  a  rule  more 
combative  and  quarrelsome  than  those  from  the 
avenues;  but  still  at  bottom  they  all  have  the 
same  impulses,  and  under  similar  conditions  they 


50          THE  TREND  OP  THE  TEENS 

will  behave  in  much  the  same  way.  This  is  par- 
ticularly the  case  the  younger  they  are.  The  older 
they  become  the  greater  will  be  the  influence  of 
their  environment  either  in  repressing  their  im- 
pulses or  in  reinforcing  them. 

Prevent  Fighting  by  Substitution.—  The  most 
effective  way  to  prevent  quarreling  oiTthe  play- 
ground, on  the  street,  or  in  the  home  is  to  organ- 
ize boys  into  groups,  for  competitive  games. 
Football  will  often  change  a  group  from  a  quar- 
relsome, fighting  gang  into  reasonably  well-con- 
trolled and  self-restrained  individuals.  "Tug-of- 
war"  will  give  vent  to  the  impulses  that  might 
otherwise  lead  to  a  " scrap"  in  a  company  of 
boys.  "Pomp,  pomp  pull  away,"  "Fox  and 
Geese"  and  the  like  will  usually  divert  the  atten- 
tion of  boys  from  fighting  on  a  playground. 
Competitive  gymnastic  activities  will  always  ex- 
ert a  wholesome  influence  in  subduing  the  com- 
bative impulses,  because  boys  will  compete  with 
one  another  on  the  rings,  on  the  trapeze,  and  so 
on,  and  thus  expend  their  energies  in  a  legitimate 
way.  At  the  appropriate  season  snow-balling 
matches  in  defending  snow  forts,  say,  will  fur- 
nish an  occasion  for  discharging  the  pugnacity 
virus  that  otherwise  may  cause  trouble.  So  one 
might  mention  many  other  games  and  plays  that 
are  simple  and  yet  are  effective  in  preventing 
fighting  on  the  playground.  The  principle  of  sub- 
stituting wholesome  competition  for  quarreling  is 


BOY  PROBLEMS  51 

applicable  just  as  well  in  the  home  as  it  is  on 
the  playground. 

Often  a  boy  who  will  start  a  fight  whenever  he 
gets  a  chance  will  be  cured  if  he  be  given  boxing 
lessons,,  in  which  the  aim  is  to  develop  skill  in 
offense  and  defense  and  not  merely  to  inflict 
injury  on  an  antagonist.  (Aa  a  rule,  when  a  boy 
becomes  interested  in  boxing  he  will  be  ashamed 
to  be  seen  mixed  up  in  a  street  brawl.)  Training 
in  boxing  substitutes  skill  for  brute  force  and 
destructiveness. 

Should  a  boy  be  punished  for  fighting?  Often 
a  boy  is  hectored  and  irritated  because  he  will  not 
"  stand  up  for  his  rights."  His  playmates  will 
call  him  a  " sissy"  and  they  will  take  pleasure  in 
plaguing  him.  Boys  possess  remnants  of  the 
savage  instincts  in  this  regard,  and  the  fact  must 
be  taken  account  of  by  a  parent  or  teacher  who 
is  charged  with  the  training  of  a  timid  or  non- 
combative  boy.  There  are  times  when  a  boy 
should  be  encouraged  to  defend  himself  against 
the  attacks  of  bullies  or  ruffians.  He  will  be  trou- 
bled less  if  he  shows  that  he  has  some  "good 
stuff"  in  him.  Also  he  will  have  greater  strength 
of  character  in  the  end  if,  as  a  boy,  he  resents 
being  dominated  by  bullies.  At  the  same  time, 
he  should  be  made  to  feel  that  just  as  no  one 
has  a  right  to  domineer  over  him,  so  he  has  no 
right  to  bully  other  boys. 

Teasing. —  Of  a  kind  with  the  tendency  of  boys 


52          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

to  pick  a  fight  is  their  tendency  to  tease  their 
comrades,  their  parents,  their  teachers  and  any 
other  persons  and  even  animals  from  which  they 
can  secure  unusual  or  lively  responses.  A  large 
part  of  the  discipline  of  boys  in  the  school  and 
the  home  arises  out  of  this  trait;  and  the  trait  is 
not  confined  to  young  boys,  for  even  college 
students  plague  one  another  and  play  "practical 
jokes,"  as  they  call  them,  on  their  instructors.  In 
some  colleges  students  spend  about  as  much  time 
and  mental  energy  in  "putting  things  over"  on 
their  teachers  as  they  do  in  mastering  their 
studies.  Also  they  are  keener  in  hazing  some  of 
their  classmates  than  they  are  in  making  good 
recitations,  or  doing  good  laboratory  work. 

Often  it  seems  that  those  who  tease  the  per- 
sons with  whom  they  come  in  contact  really  enjoy 
the  annoyance  or  discomfort  or  pain  which  they 
cause.  They  laugh  with  glee  when  they  see  the 
teacher  sprawling  on  the  floor  because  a  pupil 
removed  his  chair  from  its  accustomed  place. 
They  are  overjoyed  when  they  see  a  dog  chas- 
ing a  frightened  cat.  They  like  to  tempt  a  hun- 
gry dog  with  food  and  then  jerk  it  out  of  his 
reach  and  watch  him  struggle  to  secure  it.  They 
think  it  is  great  fun  to  hide  the  clothes  of  a  boy 
who  is  swimming  so  that  he  must  remain  for 
hours  naked  on  the  river  bank.  They  derive  great 
pleasure  from  annoying  people  by  tickling  them, 
or  kicking  them  on  the  shins,  or  stepping  on  their 


BOY  PROBLEMS  53 

toes,  or  yelling  in  their  ears,  or  calling  them 
names,  and  so  on  ad  libitum. 

Are  boys  naturally  callous  to  the  distress  which 
they  cause  people  and  animals  by  their  teasing 
activities?  By  way  of  illustrating  the  principle 
involved  here,  it  may  be  said  that  the  writer  has 
observed  men  whose  chief  pleasure  seems  to  be 
to  fish,  especially  for  trout  in  mountain  streams. 
They  say  it  is  magnificent  "sport"  because  trout 
are  so  "gamey."  These  fishermen  apparently 
never  think  of  the  suffering  of  the  fish  which 
they  catch.  They  regard  the  matter  as  a  contest, 
and  they  are  eager  to  win.  The  factor  of  pain 
plays  no  part  at  all  in  the  sport  so  far  as  the 
angler  is  concerned,  though  a  bystander  may  be 
aware  only  of  the  pain  experienced  by  the  fish. 
He  may  see  nothing  meritorious  in  the  "  sport," 
and  so  it  will  appear  to  him  to  be  a  cruel,  brutal 
business.  Thus  it  all  depends  upon  the  point  of 
view  of  the  individual  whether  an  action  is  re- 
garded as  cruel  or  as  wholesome  sport.  Anglers 
usually  delight  in  describing  their  contest  with  a 
fish  which  has  struggled  long  to  save  its  life.  In 
such  a  case  a  man  is  not  really  aware  that  he  is 
actually  taking  life.  He  is  simply  thinking  of  his 
own  cleverness,  his  endurance,  and  his  ingenuity 
in  finally  capturing  his  victim. 

Again,  the  writer  has  talked  with  men  who  en- 
joy  hunting.  They  come  in  from  a  day's  shoot- 
ing, bringing  with  them  two  or  three  ducks,  or 


54          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

half  a  dozen  rabbits,  or  a  dozen  quail,  perhaps. 
These  hunters  seem  never  to  give  a  thought  to 
the  pain  created  by  their  bullets  or  knives.  The 
larger  the  killing  the  more  they  brag  about  it. 
They  look  upon  the  creatures  of  the  forest  as 
objects  for  testing  their  own  ability  in  woodcraft, 
and  especially  their  skill  with  the  rifle.  The 
writer  has  observed  huntsmen  spread  out  a  dozen 
bleeding  ducks  before  admiring  comrades,  every 
one  of  the  men  showing  in  all  his  expressions  that 
he  did  not  entertain  any  idea  of  pain  in  respect 
to  these  creatures. 

Once  more,  the  writer  has  seen  crowds  of  in- 
telligent and  apparently  refined  men  and  women 
observing  a  football  game.  In  some  of  these  con- 
tests blood  flowed  freely;  and  in  a  few  cases  the 
players  were  seriously  injured.  But  the  on- 
lookers were  quite  indifferent  to  this.  They  saw 
only  the  manifestation  of  muscle,  agility  and 
courage,  and  the  idea  of  pain  could  not  gain  an 
entrance  into  their  consciousness.  Frequently 
some  sensitive  person  complains  about  the  cruelty 
of  football ;  but  people  who  like  the  game  cannot 
appreciate  criticism  of  this  kind. 

A  Boy  Does  Not  Think  of  the  Pain  He  Causes. 
—  So  when  a  boy  teases  his  playmates  or  other 
persons,  or  a  cat  or  dog  or  colt,  he  does  not  think 
of  the  pain  he  is  causing  them,  although,  looking 
at  the  matter  from  the  adult's  standpoint,  he 
treats  them  cruelly  much  of  the  time.  All  the  boy 


BOY  PROBLEMS  55 

thinks  about  is  the  reactions  he  can  secure  from 
the  things  he  teases ;  he  has  a  passion  to  get  them 
into  unusual  and  difficult  situations  to  observe 
what  they  will  do.  Take  a  boy,  say  nine  years  of 
age,  who  has  a  younger  sister.  He  will  be  likely 
to  tease  her  constantly  unless  he  is  kept  occupied 
in  other  ways.  He  will  frighten  her,  or  hide  her 
toys,  or  run  away  from  her  when  she  does  not 
want  to  be  left  alone ;  or  he  may  hang  her  dolls 
by  the  neck  out  of  the  window,  or  break  down  her 
playhouse,  or  do  any  one  of  a  hundred  different 
things  which  will  secure  violent  reactions  from 
her.  The  parents  may  regard  these  acts  as  cruel, 
but  the  boy  himself  regards  them  simply  as 
"  fun." 

Often  a  boy  who  is  given  to  plaguing  others 
will  protest  when  he  looks  on  at  a  case  of  plagu- 
ing practiced  by  someone  else.  Not  being  in  the 
game,  his  sympathetic  feelings  may  come  to  the 
front.  He  may  annoy  his  own  pets  but  he  will 
probably  defend  them  vigorously  if  any  one  else 
molests  them. 

The  Passion  for  Mastery. —  There  is  another 
phase  of  this  trait  which  should  be  mentioned. 
Two  boys  had  a  dog  hitched  to  a  cart,  and  were 
driving  it  through  the  street  "  for  fun."  When- 
ever the  dog  showed  any  desire  to  stop  or  to  turn 
out  of  the  middle  of  the  street,  the  boys  would 
strike  it  with  a  whip,  and  several  times  it  cried 
out  from  the  pain.  A  number  of  adults  passing 


56          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

on  the  street  called  to  the  boys  to  cease  the  pun- 
ishment of  the  dog,  but  they  soon  forgot  the  com- 
mands given  them.  When  asked  why  they  made 
the  dog  suffer,  their  only  response  was  that  they 
"  wanted  him  to  mind";  and  he  was  their  "  own 
dog  anyway,"  and  they  had  a  right  to  do  what 
they  wished  with  him. 

What  could  have  been  uppermost  in  the  minds 
of  these  boys?  In  answering  this  question  we 
may  be  helped  if  we  will  ask  another — Why  will 
an  intoxicated  man  whip  his  horse,  or  whip  his 
children  upon  coming  into  the  house,  or  express 
his  power  over  any  living  thing  around  him? 
Why  will  the  leader  of  a  group  whip  his  subjects 
if  they  will  not  submit  to  his  will?  It  is  evident 
that  in  all  these  cases  the  desire  for  control,  for 
mastery  plays  a  leading  part.  Instinctively  men 
wish  to  show  authority  over  the  creatures  around 
them,  and  even  over  their  own  associates.  They 
wish  to  reduce  them  to  submission.  So  whipping 
a  dog,  a  horse,  or  even  a  child  which  manifests 
any  tendency  to  follow  its  own  desires  is  largely 
instinctive.  In  a  case  of  this  sort  the  aggressor 
is  not  keenly  conscious  of  the  pain  inflicted  upon 
his  victim.  He  is  simply  dominated  by  the  im- 
pulse to  make  the  thing  upon  which  he  is  express- 
ing his  power  obey  his  will.  One  may  often  ob- 
serve children  whip  their  dolls  or  their  soldiers 
or  their  rocking-horse;  and  as  they  talk  to  them 
they  indicate  their  attitude — "  I'll  teach  you  to 


BOY  PROBLEMS  57 

mind  me,"  "I'll  show  you  that  I  am  boss  over 
you,"  and  so  on. 

Cooperative  Games  and  Plays  as  a  Cure  for 
Plaguing.-r  What  can  be  done  to  develop  in  boys 
a  consciousness  of  the  pain  which  they  inflict  in 
their  bullying  and  teasing?  In  the  first  place,  we 
should  so  far  as  possible  suggest  activities  to 
them  which  will  require  the  cooperation  of  their 
fellows  and  of  the  creatures  with  which  they  have 
relations.  Take,  for  example,  the  case  of  a  boy 
who  plagues  his  dog,  or  beats  it  in  gratification 
of  the  instinct  to  show  authority  over  it.  If  the 
boy  could  be  led  to  play  a  game  in  which  the  dog 
would  take  an  essential  part,  then  the  latter 
would  become  a  partner  in  an  interesting  affair 
rather  than  a  slave  to  be  kept  in  subjection. 
^Then,  in  the  second  place,  a  bully  must  be  made 
to  appreciate  that  living  things  have  feelings  like 
his  own.  He  will  not  take  this  view  readily.  In 
the  last  resort  it  might  prove  a  means  of  grace 
to  a  boy  who  hectors  a  weaker  brother  or  play- 
mate if  he  should  be  hectored  in  the  same  way  by 
one  stronger  than  himself.  Of  course,  this  is  a 
harsh  method  of  treatment;  but  often  it  is  the 
only  way  one  can  make  some  children  realize  that 
their  acts  are  the  cause  of  suffering  by  others. 
When  discipline  of  this  sort  is  administered,  it 
should  not  be  accompanied  by  anger  on  the  part 
of  the  parent  or  the  teacher.  The  latter  should 
say  to  the  bully:  "You  struck  this  boy  with  a 


58          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

snowball.  You  say  you  did  it  for  fun.  Now  I 
will  strike  you  in  the  same  way,  and  you  tell  me 
whether  it  is  funny."  In  some  such  manner, 
children  who  annoy  others  may  be  brought  to 
their  senses  by  being  made  to  experience  the 
same  distress  as  they  create. 

Experiences  That  Test  Courage  and  Endur- 
ance.—  For  their  proper  development  boys  should 
have  experiences  which  test  their  courage  and  en- 
durance; those  who  are  coddled  and  safeguarded 
from  all  rigorous  situations  are  apt  to  acquire 
loafing  and  bullying  traits.  A  concrete  instance 
will  bring  the  principle  before  us.  Two  brothers, 
fourteen  and  sixteen  years  of  age  respectively, 
recently  went  sailing  on  a  lake  on  the  shores  of 
which  they  had  their  home.  There  was  a  heavy 
wind  blowing.  Some  of  the  neighbors  observed 
the  boys  handling  the  boat  which  was  behaving 
b/idly,  and  they  became  alarmed.  They  went  run- 
ning to  the  father  and  urged  him  to  call  the  boys 
in.  They  said  the  boat  might  capsize  at  any 
moment,  and  if  so  the  boys  might  lose  their  lives. 
They  declared  it  was  foolhardy  for  the  boys  to 
go  out  on  the  lake  in  such  a  heavy  wind. 

But  the  father  told  the  neighbors  that  the  boys 
had  been  out  before  under  such  conditions  and 
had  successfully  managed  their  boat.  Besides 
they  were  not  a  great  way  from  shore,  and  even 
if  they  should  capsize  they  would  stand  a  good 
chance  of  drifting  in  safely.  Further,  they  en- 


BOY  PROBLEMS  59 

joyed  sailing  the  boat  under  difficulties,  and  boys 
should  have  such  experience.  The  father  felt 
that  children  in  the  city  in  these  days  do  not 
often  have  experiences  that  test  their  mettle,  and 
he  wished  to  give  his  boys  opportunities  to  han- 
dle themselves  in  difficult  situations  in  order  to 
develop  their  resourcefulness  and  courage. 

The  anxious  neighbors  thought  the  father  was 
not  acting  prudently  in  this  matter.  They  said  he 
should  not  take  such  chances.  They  declared  that 
if  anything  happened  to  the  boys  the  blame  would 
rest  on  the  father.  The  father,  in  response, 
pointed  out  that  boys  had  been  sailing  on  the  lake 
for  many  years,  and  there  had  not  been  more  than 
two  or  three  tragedies  in  all  this  time.  It  would 
be  wrong  then  to  prevent  the  boys  from  testing 
their  endurance  and  skill  because  of  a  remote 
chance  that  they  would  be  drowned. 

As  it  turned  out,  the  boys  continued  sailing  for 
an  hour  and  a  half  without  any  mishap,  and  they 
came  in  feeling  that  there  would  be  hardly  any 
emergency  which  might  arise  on  the  lake  which 
they  could  not  meet.  The  father  asked  them 
what  they  would  have  done  if  the  boat  had  cap- 
sized. They  said  they  would  have  been  able  to 
crawl  on  top  of  it  and  drift  to  shore,  and  they 
did  not  feel  afraid  at  any  time. 

Who  was  right  in  dealing  with  the  boys — the 
father  or  the  neighbors?  The  neighbors  were 
wrong.  One  of  these  neighbors  has  never  let  his 


60          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

boys  go  out  in  a  sail  boat.  He  himself  is  terror- 
stricken  when  he  is  in  a  boat  and  the  wind  comes 
up.  He  will  not  let  his  boys  climb  high  trees 
because  he  says  they  may  fall  and  break  a  bone 
or  kill  themselves,  and  he  will  not  take  any 
chances. 

If  boys  are  permitted  to  do  only  what  is  abso- 
lutely safe,  what  may  happen  to  them  when  they 
are  placed  in  situations  in  which  there  is  some 
danger?  They  may  be  helpless.  The  writer  has 
an  opportunity  to  see  this  illustrated  among 
students  in  a  university  which  is  situated  on  the 
shores  of  a  lake.  Canoeing  is  a  favorite  pastime 
among  the  students.  Occasionally  an  inexperi- 
enced student  will  be  in  a  canoe  when  a  gust  of 
wind  comes  up  unexpectedly.  Never  having  been 
in  such  a  situation  as  this,  in  which  there  is 
some  danger,  the  novice  is  likely  to  lose  his  head, 
and  the  moment  this  happens  he  will  probably 
capsize.  Once  in  the  water  he  will  be  overcome 
with  fear,  and  he  will  not  make  use  of  the  means 
at  hand  to  save  himself. 

How  far  should  boys  take  chances  ?  Far  enough 
to  involve  some  danger,  but  not  to  an  unreason- 
able extent.  They  must  have  frequent  experi- 
ences in  which  they  will  be  required  to  keep  cool, 
to  be  dexterous  and  skillful,  and  to  have  endur- 
ance and  persistence  in  any  difficulty  until  they 
have  straightened  it  out.  In  no  other  way  can 
they  develop  resourcefulnes  and  courage  and  en- 


BOY  PROBLEMS  61 

durance.  Besides,  experience  of  this  sort  will 
furnish  the  best  antidote  to  scrapping  and 
bullying. 

•' The    typical    parent    restricts    his    boys    too  // 
rigidly.    He  is  apprehensive  of  danger.    He  keeps 
them  out  of  trees,  off  from  fences  and  buildings, 
away  from  horses  and  all  animals,  and  off  from 
the  street  where  there  are  carriages  and  auto- 
mobiles, because  of  his  fear  that  something  will 
happen  to  them.    In  an  earlier  day  parents  gave 
children  larger  freedom  than  they  do  now  to  try 
themselves  in  difficult  situations,  partly  because 
they  could  not  supervise  them — they  were  too 
busy  for  this — and  partly  also  because  they  were 
themselves  taking  chances  of  all  sorts  and  were 
solving  their  problems,  and  they  were  not  mor-     , 
bidly    apprehensive    about    disaster    overtaking    ,' 
their  children. 

The  typical  boy  brought  up  in  the  country 
could  climb  trees  and  buildings,  and  be  around 
animals  as  much  as  he  wished,  with  the  result 
that  he  developed  self-helpfulness  and  grit  quite 
beyond  the  typical  child  of  the  city,  who  is  often 
restrained  and  restricted  and  worried  over  by  all 
the  adults  around  him.  Of  course,  boys  should 
not  be  encouraged  or  allowed  to  be  foolhardy. 
But  it  would  be  better  to  be  venturesome  than  to 
be  timid  and  cowardly,  if  one  has  to  choose  be- 
tween extremes.  The  likelihood  in  modern  life  is 
that  boys  will  have  too  few  rather  than  too  many 


62          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

experiences  that  will  develop  fortitude  and  self- 
reliance.  y 

The  Call  of  the  Swimming  Pool. —  There  is  one 
kind  of  experience  which  always  exerts  a  bene- 
ficial influence  upon  a  boy,  but  many  boys  in 
present-day  urban  life  do  not  have  this  experi- 
ence— playing  in  the  water,  swimming  especially. 

In  his  last  book  John  Muir  gives  a  pathetic  ac- 
count of  his  attempts  as  a  boy  to  indulge  his  pas- 
sion for  playing  in  the  water.  His  home  in 
Scotland  was  near  enough  to  the  sea  so  that  he 
could  run  to  it  for  a  swim.  His  father  was  op- 
posed to  his  swimming,  and  he  had  forbidden  him 
to  go  near  the  sea.  But  every  day  the  boy  would 
go  and  every  night  he  would  be  severely  whipped 
for  his  disobedience.  He  apparently  could  not 
resist  the  temptation;  the  sea  appeared  to  have 
such  a  hold  on  him  that  it  could  not  be  broken. 

As  these  lines  are  being  written,  the  ice  is 
breaking  up  in  the  lake  over  which  the  writer  is 
looking.  The  water  is  intensely  cold;  but  there 
are  boys  who  cannot  resist  the  call  of  the  water, 
and  they  are  about  to  jump  in  for  a  swim.  Their 
parents  have  probably  forbidden  them  to  do  this, 
and  some  of  them  will  resort  to  all  manner  of 
devices  to  conceal  their  misdemeanor. 

It  is  difficult  for  an  adult  to  take  the  point  of 
view  of  one  of  these  boys.  We  say:  "How  can  he 
get  any  pleasure  in  that  cold  water?  And  be- 
sides, he  is  likely  to  catch  his  death  of  cold." 


BOY  PROBLEMS  63 

But  when  we  tell  him  this,  it  makes  little  impres- 
sion on  him ;  he  is  willing  to  take  the  chances  and 
to  endure  the  hardship. 

The  memories  of  the  sea  reverberate  through- 
out the  boy's  organism.  Many  of  the  most  vital 
experiences  in  the  life  of  his  remote  ancestors 
were  connected  with  the  sea.  The  creatures  that 
came  out  of  the  water  furnished  them  their  food 
to  a  considerable  extent;  and  in  turn  they  some- 
times furnished  food  for  the  creatures  of  the  deep ; 
but  on  the  whole  the  sea  was  a  kindly  mother,  and 
she  could  be  trusted.  Even  in  adult  life  we  often 
wish  to  be  on  or  near  the  sea,  When  we  are  tired 
and  distressed,  we  go  to  the  seashore  or  take  an 
ocean  trip.  There  is  no  music  so  restful  to  many 
persons  as  the  lapping  of  the  waves.  There  is  no 
condition  under  which  the  poet  can  express  his 
romantic  feeling  so  fully  as  when  he  looks  at  the 
waves  and  listens  to  their  gentle  murmur. 

Playing  in  the  water  is  a  good  antidote  for 
tense  nerves.  There  should  be  a  swimming  pool 
in  every  large  public  school,  and  children  should 
be  permitted  to  spend  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  in  it 
every  day.  This  will  accomplish  more  in  secur- 
ing good  order  in  the  school  than  much  scolding 
and  whipping.  A  large  part  of  school  disorder 
is  due  to  tensions  developed  by  long  sitting  in  a 
seat.  When  these  tensions  increase  up  to  a  cer- 
tain point,  a  pupil  is  apt  to  become  disorderly  in 
one  way  or  another.  Before  this  time  arrives  he 


64          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

should  be  released.  If  he  could  jump  into  a 
swimming  pool  for  a  few  minutes,  he  would  come 
out  with  nerves  and  muscles  relaxed  and  with  his 
mind  fresh  and  ready  for  his  tasks.  Happily  the 
public  schools  are  beginning  to  recognize  this,  and 
in  progressive  communities  swimming  pools  are 
regarded  as  essential  to  good  work  and  good 
deportment. 

If  the  small  town  as  well  as  the  large  city  would 

provide  community  swimming  pools  out-of-doors 

I  in  summer  and  within-doors  in  winter,  much  of 

|  juvenile   rascality   would   be   automatically  cor- 

;  rected.    Swimming  is  a  kind  of  prophylactic  for 

[mischief  and  crime. 


CHAPTER  in 

GIRL  PROBLEMS 

Restrictions  of  the  Girl's  Activities. —  Every- 
body knows,  of  course,  that  boys  have  enjoyed 
greater  freedom  of  action  than  girls.  It  has  been 
thought  entirely  proper  and  desirable  that  boys  in 
the  teens  should  go  about  freely  without  being  at- 
tended by  older  persons.  We  have  said  to  boys : 
"Try  your  wings;  go  out  into  the  world  and 
come  in  contact  with  people  and  see  what  sort  of 
stuff  you  have  in  you.  You  cannot  become  ready 
for  a  broad  and  useful  life  when  you  are  men  if 
you  stay  at  home  all  the  time."  But  we  have  said 
to  girls:  "You  must  stay  close  beside  your  father 
and  mother.  It  would  be  unbecoming  for  you  to 
go  beyond  the  sight  of  your  parents  unless  you 
are  accompanied  by  a  mature  person  who  will 
keep  her  eye  on  you  and  safeguard  you  from  the 
pitfalls  of  life."  So  girls  have  not  heretofore 
gone  abroad  among  people  as  freely  and  as  widely 
as  boys  have  done. 

So  in  respect  to  manners;  the  girls  have  been 
hedged  'round  with  restraints  more  than  boys 
have  been.  The  latter  have  not  been  required  to 

65 


66          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

give  careful  attention  to  the  way  in  which  they 
walked,  stood,  sat  down  and  arose,  entered  a 
room  and  left  it,  and  so  on.  We  would  not  have 
thought  highly  of  a  boy  who  was  too  conscious 
about  these  matters.  We  have  said  that  we 
wished  him  to  be  free  and  natural  and  unre- 
strained. But  we  have  taken  exactly  the  con- 
trary view  regarding  the  girl's  deportment.  She 
has  not  been  allowed  to  forget  herself.  She 
has  been  taught  always  to  be  conscious  of  the  im- 
pression she  was  making  and  to  do  everything 
according  to  conventional  standards. 

Again,  we  have  allowed  the  boy  large  latitude 
in  the  matter  of  dress.  We  have  thought  it 
proper  for  him  to  wear  the  same  suit  of  clothes 
for  breakfast,  dinner  and  supper,  at  business  dur- 
ing the  day  and  at  a  reception  or  dance  in  the 
evening.  A  boy  who  would  change  his  suit  for 
each  meal,  or  even  put  off  his  day  clothes  and  put 
on  others  for  evening  functions  would  be  re- 
garded as  too  nice  and  proper — as  effeminate,  in 
fact.  But  a  girl  who  would  wear  at  a  reception 
the  same  dress  that  was  worn  during  the  day 
would  be  looked  upon  as  careless  and  slouchy. 
In  respect  to  every  detail  of  personal  adornment 
we  have  expected  the  girl  to  give  a  great  deal 
more  attention  to  herself  than  we  have  expected 
of  the  boy.  Our  chief  criterion  of  judging  the  boy 
has  been  what  he  is  able  to  accomplish;  his 
appearance  has  been  a  secondary  matter.  But 


GIRL  PROBLEMS  67 

appearance  has  played  the  chief  role  in  our  judg- 
ment of  the  girl.  We  have  not  said  to  her:  "Go 
ahead,  forget  yourself  and  do  with  enthusiasm 
and  spirit  whatever  interests  you."  We  have 
rather  said  to  her:  "Always  be  careful  about 
your  appearance,  never  be  neglectful  of  any  de- 
tail affecting  your  looks." 

Intellectual  Restrictions. —  In  the  matter  of 
education,  too,  we  have  given  the  boy  much  more 
freedom  than  we  have  allowed  the  girl.  We  have 
said  to  the  former :  "Go  as  far  as  you  like  in  the 
pursuit  of  knowledge.  Take  advantage  of  all 
opportunities  to  enlarge  your  understanding  of 
men  and  nature.  Go  deeply  into  science  or  his- 
tory or  economics  or  mathematics  or  literature  or 
whatever  attracts  you.  The  more  deeply  you  go 
the  more  highly  we  will  regard  you."  But  we 
have  said  to  the  girl:  "It  will  be  better  for  you 
to  study  light  subjects,  as  art  and  language  and 
literature.  It  is  not  quite  the  thing  for  a  girl  to 
try  to  master  such  subjects  as  biology  or  chem- 
istry or  engineering  or  agriculture  and  so  on.  A 
girl  should  polish  her  mind,  not  develop  it  rigor- 
ously. She  should  learn  how  to  speak  nicely  and 
be  gracious  and  entertaining,  but  she  should  not 
learn  how  to  solve  any  scientific  or  economic  or 
mathematical  or  medical  or  legal  problems.  She 
will  not  make  so  favorable  an  impression  upon 
her  friends  if  she  gives  too  much  attention  to  the 
acquisition  of  real  knowledge  in  any  field. 


68          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

Carefulness  in  Speech. —  We  have  been  par- 
ticularly insistent  that  the  girl  should  be  very 
careful  about  her  speech.  She  must  not  use  terms 
that  refer  to  the  organs  of  the  body  except  the 
members  that  are  plainly  visible  to  the  eye.  It 
would  be  entirely  improper  for  her  to  use  strong 
language,  even  such  phrases  as  "By  George!"  or 
"By  Heck!"  Of  course,  she  could  not  use  pro- 
fanity or  terms  that  had  any  suggestion  of  un- 
wholesomeness  in  them.  But  we  have  allowed  the 
boy  freedom  in  this  respect.  He  could  speak  of 
^  his  stomach  or  his  legs,  but  the  girl  could  not  do 
so  with  propriety.  He  could  say  "Confound  it!" 
but  it  would  not  be  nice  for  the  girl  to  do  so. 

He  could  even  say  '  '  d n  it ! "  and  he  would  not 

be  ruled  out  of  polite  society,  but  the  girl  would 
lose  all  caste  if  she  should  use  such  terms.  So 
the  boy  could  smoke  cigarettes  and  cigars  and 
even  a  pipe  and  still  be  received  in  good  society, 
but  not  so  with  the  girl.  Always  we  have  insisted 
that  the  girl  should  keep  in  view  high  ideals  in 
respect  to  appearance,  behavior,  morals  and  con- 
duct. But  we  have  given  the  boy  large  latitude 
in  these  matters  provided  that  he  would  show 
intellectual  or  physical  ability  and  stamina. 

Girls  Are  Breaking  Artificial  Restrictions. — 
This  has  been  the  situation  respecting  our  atti- 
tude toward  the  girl  and  boy  until  the  present 
moment.  But  the  times  are  changing.  There  are 
signs  now  that  the  girl  will  soon  disregard  the 


GIRL  PROBLEMS  69 

restrictions  that  have  been  imposed  upon  her, 
and  that  she  will  claim  as  much  freedom  as  the 
boy  has  enjoyed.  For  one  thing,  girls  are  be- 
ginning to  go  freely  about  in  the  world,  at  home 
and  abroad,  without  chaperonage,  asserting  that 
they  are  competent  to  take  care  of  themselves. 
One  can  find  them  pursuing  knowledge  in  every 
department  in  college  and  university, — agricul- 
ture, medicine,  mathematics,  biology,  economics 
and  the  like.  They  will  not  now  submit  to  being 
shut  out  of  the  various  engineering  fields  even,  as 
recent  reports  from  some  of  the  technical  schools 
indicate. 

In  the  matter  of  conduct  girls  are  freely  doing 
whatever  they  wish  to  do.  In  some  respects  they 
are  freer  than  boys  dare  to  be,  as  observations 
at  sea-side  resorts  will  convince  anyone.  There 
is  not  much  distinction  now  between  the  language 
used  by  girls  and  that  used  by  boys ;  in  co-educa- 
tional colleges  one  can  hear  the  girls  using  as 
dynamic  language  as  the  boys  use. 

There  are  among  us  many  persons  brought  up 
in  the  old  school  who  do  not  like  the  freedom 
with  which  girls  are  conducting  themselves  111  our 
times.  These  old-fashioned  persons  are  predict- 
ing a  slump  in  our  ethical,  social  and  moral  rela- 
tions. To  an  unprejudiced  observer,  however, 
there  is  no  evidence  that  any  catastrophe  is  likely 
to  overtake  us.  On  the  contrary,  girls  are  better 
able  to  handle  and  protect  themselves  than  they 


70          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

were  in  the  past  when  they  did  not  know  the  ways 
of  the  world. 

The  American  Girl  Is  Especially  Favored. — 
The  American  girl  has  always  enjoyed  more  free- 
dom than  the  European  girl.  She  has  never  been 
tied  so  closely  at  home  or  been  made  to  conform 
conventions  so  fully  as  her  European  sisters; 
and  every  unprejudiced  student  of  European  and 
American  life  will  agree  that  the  social,  ethical 
and  moral  standards  in  America  are  higher  than 
they  are  in  any  European  country.  This  has  been 
impressed  upon  us  during  the  past  two  or  three 
years  when  our  boys  have  been  in  Europe.  We 
have  learned  in  many  ways  that  the  standards  of 
conduct  there  are  somewhat  lower  than  they  are 
in  our  own  country.  One  factor  that  has  operated 
to  keep  the  standards  high  in  America  has  been 
the  independence  and  self-reliance  of  our  girls 
and  women.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  with 
still  greater  freedom  our  girls  and  women  will 
elevate  rather  than  lower  standards  of  conduct. 

Adolescence  a  Critical  Period. — A  typical 
mother  has  complained  because  her  daughter 
fifteen  years  of  age  lacks  interest  in  work  of  any 
kind.  She  has  not  yet  finished  the  eighth  grade 
in  the  public  school  which  she  attends.  Her 
mother  says  that  her  mind  is  wandering  all  the 
time  and  she  always  tried  to  "skip  the  hard 
places/'  The  mother  thinks  there  should  be  some 
way  to  teach  her  daughter  concentration.  She 


GIRL  PROBLEMS  71 

wishes  to  have  a  course  outlined  which  will  de- 
velop the  habit  of  doing  hard  work. 

The  crucial  epoch  in  a  girl's  life  falls  between 
the  fourteenth  and  seventeeth  years.  If  she  has 
any  tendency  toward  unsteadiness  of  mind  or  con- 
duct it  will  be  likely  to  manifest  itself  at  that 
time.  The  turning  point  in  the  career  of  girls 
who  find  their  way  into  reform  schools  comes  at 
about  fourteen.  Such  profound  changes  are  tak- 
ing place  then  that  there  is  a  liklihood  that  the 
mind  will  '  '  wander. 9 '  Dull  tasks  in  school  are 
duller  at  this  time  than  at  any  period  before  or 
after.  Nature  evidently  intends  that  a  girl  should 
live  a  romantic  life  during  these  transitional 
years.  Sitting  in  a  school-room  trying  to  memo- 
rize the  contents  of  books  does  not  make  a  strong 
appeal  to  any  typical  girl  during  early  adoles- 
cence; and  for  some  girls  it  is  quite  impossible  to 
do  anything  of  the  kind.  Performing  the  prosaic 
duties  of  a  kitchen  or  any  other  part  of  the  house 
does  not  awaken  enthusiasm  at  this  age.  Indeed, 
no  "hard  work"  appeals  to  a  typical  girl  between 
fourteen  and  seventeen;  but  "hard  work"  means 
work  which  has  no  romance  about  it.  It  means 
performing  mechanical  tasks  in  which  there  is  no 
freedom  of  action,  no  adventure,  no  opportunity 
to  make  oneself  attractive  to  admirers,  and  no 
chance  to  form  interesting  acquaintances  who 
may  offer  possibilities  for  new  undertakings. 
This  is  the  emotional  age;  and  work  which  gives 


72          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

no  opportunity  for  the  indulgence  of  emotions 
will  be  "  hard."  At  the  same  time  a  girl  will 
gladly  spend  four  or  five  times  as  much  energy 
on  hikes  or  in  games  or  in  dancing  as  would  be 
required  to  master  her  lessons  in  school  or  to  do 
housework.  She  does  not  complain  about  expend- 
ing energy,  only  about  doing  the  tasks  that  have 
no  adventure  or  romance  about  them. 

Concentration  Depends  on  Interest. —  When 
parents  and  teachers  have  to  deal  with  girls,  or 
boys  either  for  that  matter,  of  this  type,  they  are 
apt  to  think  there  must  be  some  simple,  sure 
method  of  teaching  concentration  and  faithfulness 
in  the  performance  of  dull  tasks.  But  there  is 
no  easy  way  of  accomplishing  this.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  teach  concentration  upon  or  interest  in 
drudgery.  There  are  no  rules  that  can  be  learned 
that  will  enable  one  to  learn  how  to  concentrate. 
The  only  way  that  application  can  be  secured  is 
to  make  whatever  a  boy  or  girl  should  attend  to  so 
interesting  or  significant  that  it  will  hold  the  at- 
tention. Nature  has  so  constructed  the  human 
mind  that  it  will  concentrate  upon  matters  that 
seem  to  be  of  importance  in  one's  life.  What- 
ever does  not  appear  to  be  vital  will  be  ignored. 

And  the  things  that  are  regarded  as  of  im- 
portance change  as  one  develops.  When  one 
reaches  maturity  he  has  a  very  different  view  of 
what  is  worth  while  from  what  he  had  when  he 
was  fourteen  or  fifteen.  When  he  is  sixty  he  has 


GIRL  PROBLEMS  73 

a  quite  different  view  from  what  he  had  at 
twenty-one.  As  his  life  changes  his  estimate  of 
values  changes,  and  so  the  things  that  he  will  con- 
centrate upon  at  different  ages  change  as  his  in- 
terests change.  But  the  law  holds  for  every  age 
— that  whatever  is  considered  to  be  of  chief  im- 
portance at  the  time  will  be  attended  to  and  mas- 
tered if  possible. 

Take  a  girl  at  fifteen,  then,  who  does  not  care 
for  the  work  of  the  school.  What  can  be  done  for 
her?  If  she  has  normal  intelligence  it  should  be 
possible  to  find  some  kinds  of  work  which  will 
appeal  to  her.  If  she  is  studying  grammar  and 
arithmetic  and  history,  taught  in  a  'mechanical 
way,  and  geography  which  she  does  not  compre- 
hend, it  may  be  impossible  to  hold  her  to  her 
tasks;  but  if  she  should  study  laboratory  science 
or  household  arts  or  typewriting  or  telegraphy  or 
commercial  subjects  she  might  be  interested  and 
might  do  her  work  very  acceptably.  Descriptions 
of  many  cases  of  this  kind  have  been  made  by 
students  of  these  matters.  Educational  literature 
of  recent  years  contains  accounts  op  many  girls 
who  apparently  had  no  interest  in /their  school 
work  but  who  changed  completely  in  their  atti- 
tude when  their  studies  were  changed. 

Arrest  in  Mental  Development. —  The  girl  de- 
scribed above  is  a  year  or  two  behind  in  her 
school  work.  It  may  be  that  she  does  not  pos- 
sess normal  intelligence.  Sometimes  a  girl's 


74          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

mind  seems  to  be  arrested  at  the  age  of  fourteen. 
It  is  as  though  her  energies  were  directed  out  of 
intellectual  into  emotional  channels.  When  this 
is  the  case,  it  is  useless  to  expect  that  a  girl  can 
keep  up  with  her  school  work  or  take  an  interest 
in  it  even.  If  there  is  any  doubt  about  the  matter, 
a  test  of  intelligence  should  be  made.  A  parent 
who  is  interested  in  this  matter  could  learn  how 
to  make  intelligence  tests  by  reading  a  book  on 
the  measurement  of  intelligence.  It  would  be  well 
if  all  parents  could  read  a  book  like  this  so  that 
they  might  have  some  standard  by  which  to  esti- 
mate the  development  of  the  intelligence  of  their 
children. 

If  it  should  be  found  that  this  girl  has  become 
arrested  in  her  intellectual  development,  then  the 
best  way  to  treat  her  would  be  to  train  her  for 
some  form  of  concrete  manual  work  in  which  she 
may  be  interested.  Take  telegraphy  for  instance ; 
this  is  a  subject  well  suited  to  girls,  and  there  are 
many  opportunities  open  for  them  now.  A  girl 
who  might  not  be  able  to  master  abstract  gram- 
mar and  formal  history  and  algebra  might  be 
able  to  learn  telegraphy  or  typewriting  or  mil- 
linery or  dressmaking  fairly  well. 

The  Noil-Social  Girl. —  We  may  glance  now  at 
the  traits  of  a  different  type  of  girl — the  non- 
social  type.  A  concrete  instance  will  bring  the 
type  before  us. 

"My  oldest  daughter,  as  an  infant,  was  a  fine 


GIRL  PROBLEMS  75 

child  but  with  peculiar  tendencies.  If  hurt  she 
wanted  no  sympathy — the  usual  petting  and 
caressing  made  her  furious.  Although  the  ob- 
ject of  our  affection  she  seemed  never  to  respond. 
If  I  went  away  she  never  expressed  joy  at  my 
return;  and  when  she  grew  older  she  objected  to 
being  kissed  in  public.  At  seven  years  of  age  a 
friend  who  is  a  psychologist  said, '  What  Gertrude 
needs  for  development  is  hero  worship.'  She  is 
now  fifteen  and  we  have  never  found  the  hero. 
She  hates  to  meet  people,  but  loves  to  go  off  by 
herself  and  read.  She  is  a  good  student  but 
seems  to  regard  her  teachers  as  natural  enemies. 
Instead  of  enjoying  the  present  she  is  constantly 
planning  for  the  future. 

"I  have  been  a  pretty  strict  mother — insisting 
that  she  meet  people,  that  she  play  the  piano, 
dance  and  recite,  instead  of  reading  stories,  going 
to  the  movies  and  eating  fudge." 

This  girl  is  an  unusual  type,  but  one  does  meet 
her  kind  occasionally.  Since  she  has  possessed 
these  traits  from  the  beginning  it  is  evidence  that 
they  are  not  due  to  any  methods  of  training,  but 
rather  to  nature. 

Mothers  often  worry  too  much  about  their  chil- 
dren— their  daughters  especially,  because  they  do 
not  dress  according  to  the  fashions,  or  do  not 
dance  enough,  or  try  to  win  the  boys,  and  so  on. 
The  girls  may  be  having  a  good  time  among  them- 
selves, and  like  an  intellectual  life,  but  the 


7S          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

mothers  are  more  conscious  of  the  social  de- 
mands, and  often  are  not  themselves  interested 
in  intellectual  activities.  They  probably  have 
come  to  appreciate  the  value  of  giving  a  good 
deal  of  attention  to  social  conventions,  and  so 
they  keep  at  their  daughters  incessantly  to  do  the 
same. 

The  Non-Social  Girl  Should  Not  Be  Coerced 
Into  Social  Activities. —  If  a  girl  is  indifferent  by 
nature  to  social  conventions;  if  she  likes  to  be 
alone  and  to  read,  why  should  she  be  coerced  into 
participating  in  the  usual  social  activities?  Why 
should  she  try  to  make  people  like  her?  Isn't 
there  a  place  for  women  who  are  not  very  particu- 
lar about  whether  individuals  or  society  like 
them?  Why  shouldn't  such  a  person  go  on  de- 
veloping in  an  intellectual  way?  It  is  doubtful 
whether  social  interests  can  be  awakened  in  such 
a  girl  until  she  gets  out  into  life  where  she,  is 
made  to  realize  by  hard  knocks,  if  she  really  has 
hard  knocks,  that  she  must  like  people  and  win 
them  or  be  kept  out  of  the  game.  One  cannot 
cause  her  to  be  social  by  talking  to  her  about  it; 
she  will  be  more  likely  to  go  just  the  other  way 
if  she  nagged  concerning  it. 

A  girl  should  not  be  coerced  into  meeting  peo- 
ple, or  taking  part  in  social  activities,  or  getting 
out  into  life,  or  dressing  in  accord  with  the  styles. 
But  if  she  should  be  sent  away  to  school,  say,  or 
if  this  is  not  practicable  if  she  should  be  given 


GIRL  PROBLEMS  77 

a  position  in  which,  in  order  to  succeed,  she  would 
have  to  be  socially  active,  she  would  probably  cul- 
tivate a  certain  amount  of  interest  and  skill  in 
this  direction.  If  she  would  not  respond  to  an 
actual  demand  like  this  she  would  not  profit  by 
any  kind  of  training. 

Age  May  Make  a  Girl  More  Social  and  Affec- 
tionate.—  It  is  probable  that  when  the  girl  de> 
scribed  above  is  twenty  she  will  have  more  feel- 
ing for  her  parents  and  people  in  general  than 
she  has  now.  Children  at  fifteen  are  pretty  much 
wrapped  up  in  themselves.  Even  if  they  are  ex- 
pressive toward  their  parents  they  do  not  feel 
very  profoundly  devoted  to  them.  This  feeling 
of  filial  devotion  develops  later.  A  mother  ought 
not  to  be  too  much  distressed  about  a  girl's  ap- 
parent lack  of  affection  for  her.  She  has  not  yet 
begun  to  realize  what  the  mother  really  means  to 
her,  what  part  she  plays  in  her  life.  If  she  could 
go  away  from  home  for  awhile  and  have  contact 
with  the  world  outside  she  would  think  more  of 
her  mother  when  she  came  back.  And  when  she 
does  go  out  into  the  world,  let  her  make  her  own 
adjustments  for  a  time.  Don't  be  too  much  con- 
cerned about  her.  She  will  develop  affection  for 
her  mother  rather  more  readily  if  the  latter  does 
not  worry  about  her  than  if  she  does.  Many  chil- 
dren are  alienated  because  their  parents  fuss 
over  them  too  much. 

The  mother  asks,  having  in  mind  her  relation 


T8          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

to  her  daughter,  "  Shall  I  withdraw  now  and  let 
her  work  out  her  salvation? "  Emphatically  yes, 
so  far  as  any  explicit  training  is  concerned.  The 
thing  the  mother  can  do  is  to  arrange  social  con- 
tacts for  the  girl  which  will  tend  to  put  her  at 
her  ease,  make  her  unconscious  in  the  presence 
of  others,  and  awaken  her  expressive  nature. 
The  mother  cannot  help  her  by  commanding  her 
to  be  expressive,  or  criticising  her  because  she  is 
not  as  social  as  the  mother  thinks  she  should  be. 

She  will  soon  go  to  college  probably.  If  she 
does,  she  should  join  a  sorority  and  thus  come 
into  intimate  touch  with  a  few  people,  at  any  rate. 
This  experience  will  tend  to  modify  her  reserve, 
and  to  make  her  less  self-conscious.  Also  it  would 
help  if  she  could  have  chums  with  whom  she  could 
be  entirely  at  ease. 

But  again,  why  should  one  be  much  concerned 
about  such  a  girl?  If  she  is  content  with  her 
rather  isolated  life,  if  she  finds  satisfaction  in 
her  own  reflections,  why  should  one  try  to  develop 
other  interests?  There  certainly  is  a  place  in 
the  world  for  persons  who  can  be  happy  when 
they  are  working  alone.  Such  persons  will  de- 
rive pleasure  from  achievement  rather  than  from 
personal  intercourse.  If  the  girl  in  question  is 
content  with  her  present  life,  and  if  she  is  not  a 
source  of  distress  to  others,  then  one  may  doubt 
the  wisdom  of  trying  to  change  her  life  funda- 
mentally. 


GIRL  PROBLEMS  79 

The  Higher  Education  of  Girls. —  Turning  now 
to  the  education  of  girls  it  may  be  observed  that 
it  has  only  been  recently,  as  such  things  go,  that 
girls  have  been  given  the  same  privilege  as  boys 
in  public  schools.    Originally  schools  were  main- 
tained and  administered  for  boys;  girls  were  re- 
garded as  interlopers.    They  are  so  considered  in 
certain  colleges  still.    Some  of  the  old-line  insti- 
tutions will  not  admit  them  on  an  equality  with 
men.    Even  a  few  of  the  newer  institutions  have 
set  up  barriers  against  women  students  by  limit- 
ing their  number  by  statute,  so  that  men  will 
always  give  character  to  these  institutions  and 
be  dominant  in  control  of  them. 

The  history  of  modern  education  tells  an  illum- 
inating story  of  woman's  ascendency  in  educa- 
tional activities  and  achievement.  Even  after 
women  were  admitted  to  colleges  on  a  par  with 
men  they  were  not  considered  to  be  capable  of 
attaining  a  high  degree  of  scholarship.  In  a  brief 
period,  though,  they  have  climbed  to  the  highest 
point  reached  by  men,  and  now  they  are  crowding 
ahead  of  them.  This  has  spread  alarm  among  the 
conservative  collegians.  They  have  sent  a  danger 
signal  throughout  the  country.  Specifically,  the 
governors  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  society,  admis- 
sion to  which  depends  upon  superior  scholarship, 
have  proposed  that  the  number  of  women  admitted 
should  be  arbitrarily  limited.  It  is  said  that  un- 
less a  check  is  thus  put  upon  the  women,  they  will 


80          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

soon  outnumber  the  men,  and  the  society  will  be- 
come a  feminine  organization. 

Women  Are  Leading  in  Scholarship. —  The  Phi 
Beta  Kappa  society  was  founded  and  is  main- 
tained in  order  to  encourage  scholarship  and  to 
confer  distinction  upon  the  intellectually  superior 
students  in  colleges  and  universities.  The  fact 
that  women  are  leading  men  in  receiving  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  honors  is  important  as  it  bears  upon  the 
question  of  woman's  brains  as  compared  with 
man's.  It  is  also  significant  since  it  indicates  the 
new  interests  and  ambitions  of  women  in  colleges 
and  universities.  Only  in  institutions  hopelessly 
mired  in  tradition  and  prejudice  is  there  still 
doubt  regarding  the  capacity  of  women  to  profit 
by  educational  advantages  of  the  highest  order. 

But  the  keener  thinkers  in  all  institutions  have 
some  doubt  about  the  desirability  of  women  com- 
peting with  men  for  scholarship  honors  in  a  cur- 
riculum constructed  originally  for  men  and  still 
adapted  mainly  to  their  needs.  If  courses  of 
study  had  been  planned  with  respect  to  the  inter- 
ests, tastes  and  needs  of  women  as  well  as  of 
men,  it  would  be  generally  agreed  that  women 
might  go  as  far  as  they  would  like  in  the  acquisi- 
tion of  knowledge  and  skill.  But  serious  people 
often  find  themselves  asking  whether  it  is  worth 
while  for  a  girl  to  devote  her  time  and  energy 
during  the  most  important  period  of  life  to  the 
mastery  of  higher  mathematics  and  foreign  lang- 


GIRL  PROBLEMS  81 

uages  and  technical  science  and  philosophy  in  or- 
der to  secure  distinction  in  scholarship.  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  honors  would  not  be  awarded  to  a  girl  stu- 
dent if  she  should  devote  time  and  energy  to 
studies  relating  to  the  dominant  interests  in  a 
woman's  life.  When  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  society 
was  founded  no  one  in  the  world  believed  that  it 
required  any  high  degree  of  intelligence  to  master 
knowledge  pertaining  to  the  management  of  a 
home  or  to  child  nature  or  to  the  arts  of  personal 
accomplishment.  The  women  who  are  ambitious 
for  distinction  in  scholarship  quite  generally 
avoid  these  latter  fields  and  pursue  the  courses 
taken  by  men.  There  is  some  evidence  that  this 
results  in  alienating  girls  from  the  life  for  which 
nature  intended  them  and  in  which  they  will  gain 
the  highest  pleasure  in  the  long  run,  and  be  of 
greatest  use  in  the  world. 

The  Girl  Student  Is  Insistent. —  But  the  girl 
student  is  insistent.  She  is  determined  that  there 
shall  be  no  essential  differentiation  between  her 
work  and  that  of  the  man  student.  She  has 
pushed  her  way  into  man-made  institutions  and 
the  attitude  of  antagonism  manifested  by  the  men. 
has  only  strengthened  her  resolution  that  she  will 
not  be  shut  out  of  any  activities  or  denied  any 
opportunities  offered  to  men.  In  most  higher 
institutions  she  is  still  contending  for  her  rights 
as  she  sees  them.  The  men  students  look  upon  her 
as  an  intruder;  and  even  the  faculty  in  some 


82          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

places  let  it  be  known  that  they  regard  women  in 
their  classes  as  disquieting  to  themselves  and 
hostile  to  the  interests  of  men  students.  The  girl 
students  are  fighting  for  representation  in  stu- 
dent organizations,  in  student  publications,  and 
in  all  student  activities. 

Suppose  woman  wins  out  in  her  present  ambi- 
tion with  regard  to  scholarship.  Will  she  have 
attained  what  she  is  really  aiming  at?  Any  un- 
prejudiced student  of  human  life  realizes  that 
there  is  one  fundamental  distinction  between  the 
masculine  and  the  feminine  nature.  It  was  in- 
tended in  the  original  plans  that  man  should 
achieve.  Mind  and  body  are  fashioned  for  achieve- 
ment. It  was  not  ordered  that  man  should  be 
greatly  conscious  of  or  give  much  attention  to 
personal  accomplishments  or  appearance.  In 
body  and  mind  he  was  made  to  be  dynamic.  His 
customs,  his  institutions  and  his  education  have 
been  largely  shaped  with  respect  to  this  dominat- 
ing object  of  his  life. 

Woman  Must  Win  By  Personal  Accomplish- 
ment.—  On  the  other  hand,  nature  designed  that 
woman  should  win  more  by  personal  accomplish- 
ment than  by  achievement.  In  mind,  in  tempera- 
ment, in  body,  woman  was  designed  to  be  more 
concerned  with  self  than  is  the  case  with  man. 
The  best  results  will  undoubtedly  follow  if  her 
education  is  worked  out  in  accordance  with  her 
biological  nature  and  needs  than  if  it  be  framed 


GIRL  PROBLEMS 

on  the  pattern  of  man's  education.  It  would  be 
better  if  she  should  strive  for  distinction  in  fem- 
inine rather  than  in  masculine  fields,  whether  in- 
tellectual or  otherwise. 

The  educational  world  is  slowly  but  surely  com- 
ing to  appreciate  the  difference  between  a  man- 
made  and  a  woman-made  educational  curriculum 
and  educational  regime.  In  the  larger  universities 
there  is  now  opportunity  for  women  to  devote 
their  time  fully  to  subjects  which  relate  more  to 
feminine  than  to  masculine  interests  and  needs. 
There  are  studies,  of  course,  which  are  equally 
well  suited  to  men  and  to  girl  students ;  but  take 
all  fields  of  endeavor  represented  in  a  great  uni- 
versity to-day,  and  most  of  the  work  best  suited 
to  the  former  is  not  best  suited  to  the  later.  The 
sooner  this  fact  is  recognized  so  that  honors  will 
be  given  for  superior  work  in  any  field,  regardless 
of  whether  it  relates  mainly  to  the  man's  or  main- 
ly to  the  woman's  needs,  the  better  it  will  be  for 
woman  especially. 

Education  and  Personal  Attractiveness. —  A 
mother  recently  presented  her  views  at  length  on 
the  education  of  girls.  She  said  she  would  not 
send  her  daughter  to  a  co-educational  college  be- 
cause she  would  not  want  her  to  take  any  account 
of  boys  during  her  educational  course.  She  as- 
serted that  a  girl  ' '  ought  to  think  only  of  improv- 
ing her  mind  and  not  of  pleasing  the  other  sex. ' ' 
She  maintained  that  if  a  girl  had  a  well-developed 


84          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

mind  she  would  possess  the  strongest  and  most 
desirable  quality.  "The  girl  who  attracts  because 
of  her  personal  appearance  is  merely  superficial, 
and  such  attraction  will  not  be  enduring, "  she 
concluded. 

Would  that  this  were  wholly  true.  But  it  is  not 
more  than  a  half  truth  at  best.  Unfortunately, 
perhaps,  boys  and  men  are  determined  in  this 
matter  pretty  largely  by  their  biological  traits. 
They  are  still  influenced  to  a  large  extent  by  the 
personal  qualities  of  the  gentler  sex.  They  do 
not  ignore  intellectual  and  ethical  qualities,  but 
these,  after  all,  are  secondary  in  their  estimation. 
Beauty  or  charm  makes  the  strongest  appeal.  It 
always  has  done  so,  and  it  will  probably  continue 
to  do  so  for  some  generations  to  come. 

A  parent  or  teacher  who  would  train  a  girl  so 
that  she  would  be  indifferent  to  personal  improve- 
ment would  make  a  serious  mistake.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  would  be  just  as  serious  a  mistake  to  train 
her  so  that  she  would  give  attention  to  little  else 
but  her  appearance.  The  aim  should  be  to  have 
her  try  to  attain  a  well-disciplined  and  illumi- 
nated interior,  and  an  esthetic  and  agreeable 
exterior.  If  the  one  be  developed  to  the  neglect 
of  the  other  the  girl  will  be  placed  at  a  disadvan- 
tage  thereby. 

Those  who  have  had  an  opportunity  to  study 
the  social,  intellectual  and  moral  life  of  different 
nations  agree  that  in  America  the  problem  of 


GIRL  PROBLEMS  85 

developing  the  girl's  mind  while  at  the  same  time 
helping  her  to  make  herself  attractive  personally 
has  been  solved  better  than  it  has  in  any  other 
country.  The  number  of  girls  in  co-educational 
colleges  and  universities  is  increasing  at  a  rapid 
rate,  and  these  girls  do  just  as  fine  intellectual 
work  as  the  men ;  indeed,  they  are  excelling  them 
in  some  lines  of  study.  But  while  cultivating  the 
mind,  they  also  cultivate  the  bodily  graces  and  the 
arts  of  pleasing  adornment. 

If  it  should  happen  that  girls  with  highly- 
trained  minds  should  not  attain  physical  attract- 
iveness, it  would  result  that  those  who  have  little 
or  no  education  would  become  favorites,  and  the 
intellectual  type  would  be  gradually  eliminated. 
What  we  should  do  here  in  America  is  to  train  the  / 
girl  intellectually  so  far  as  we  can,  but  at  the  / 
same  time  to  conserve  and  develop  her  personal  [ 
charms,  and  show  her  how  she  can  make  the  most 
of  what  nature  has  given  her.  Happily  the  schools 
are  doing  more  in  this  direction  to-day  than  they 
did  in  the  past,  but  still  they  have  only  begun  to 
teach  girls  how  they  can  best  realize  their  natural 
desires  to  be  attractive  in  the  highest  sense  of  the 
term.  Many  women  are  unhappy  throughout  life 
because  they  have  not  solved  this  problem;  and 
others,  relying  upon  their  unguided  instincts,  go 
to  extremes  in  one  way  or  another,  and  produce 
only  disagreeable  and  bizarre  effects. 

The  Problem  of  Clothes.—  Parents  are  often 


86          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

distressed  because  young  people,  especially  girls 
in  the  teens,  give  so  much  attention  to  clothes.  A 
parent  writes  that  she  has  a  girl  fourteen  years 
of  age  who  has  '  *  clothes  on  the  brain. ' '  This  dis- 
ease attacks  boys  in  a  mild  form,  at  least,  a  little 
later,  though  it  does  not  go  as  hard  with  them  nor 
last  as  long  as  it  does  with  girls. 

During  the  period  of  youth  nature  says  to  every 
normal  girl:  "You  must  give  attention  to  your 
appearance.  You  must  make  yourself  attractive. 
If  you  fail  in  this,  you  will  be  left  in  the  lurch. 
You  must  dress  so  as  to  please,  and  so  as  to  dis- 
tinguish yourself  from  the  crowd.  In  this  way 
you  will  be  noticed ;  people  will  be  drawn  to  you, 
and  you  will  be  likely  to  win  out  in  the  social 
contest." 

There  is  no  need  for  a  parent  to  worry  too 
much  about  the  adolescent  girl  who  thinks  a  great 
deal  about  clothes.  Of  course,  if  this  begins  very 
early,  it  will  distract  the  attention  from  more  im- 
portant matters.  If  a  girl  could  go  up  to  fifteen 
or  sixteen  and  a  boy  up  to  eighteen  or  nineteen 
without  thinking  very  much  about  appearance,  it 
\  ^would  be  best  for  both  of  them  in  the  end.  But 
it  is  a  biological  law  that  every  normal  girl,  and 
in  a  moderate  degree  every  normal  boy,  should 
think  much  about  personal  adornment  during  the 
teens. 

Nothing  good  can  be  accomplished  by  merely 
telling  young  people  that  they  must  not  be  "fool- 


GIRL  PROBLEMS  87 

ish"  or  "silly"  or  "vain"  in  their  desire  to  be 
attractive  in  appearance.  Such,  treatment  will 
only  aggravate  the  difficulty.  The  evil,  if  it  is  an 
evil,  must  be  remedied  by  substitution.  One  fre- 
quently sees  girls,  and  boys,  too,  in  college  who 
give  a  sufficient  amount  of  attention  to  the  subject 
of  clothes,  but  who  are  immensely  interested  in 
their  college  work,  in  athletics,  and  in  wholesome 
social  life  in  which  clothes  do  not  play  a  leading 
part.  Such  persons  could  not  be  said  to  have 
"clothes  on  the  brain,"  nor  would  anyone  think 
they  were  careless  or  indifferent  in  the  matter  of 
dress. 

The  Pressure  of  Artificial  Customs. —  But  there 
is  another  and  more  serious  phase  of  the  subject. 
A  certain  girl  had  gone  through  the  grade  school 
and  the  high  school,  securing  a  high  record  in 
every  study.  She  graduated  at  the  head  of  a 
large  class.  She  left  her  home  to  attend  a  co- 
educational college.  She  joined  a  sorority,  the 
members  of  which  have  the  reputation  of  "keep- 
ing up  with  the  §tyles."  The  girl  undertook  her 
college  work  in  a  serious  way,  but  she  soon  had 
invitations  constantly  to  participate  in  the  social 
activities  of  the  college,  and  she  discovered  in  due 
course  that  in  order  to  keep  up  with  her  friends 
it  would  be  necessary  for  her  to  give  more  atten- 
tion to  dress  than  she  had  done  in  the  past. 
Society  in  this  college  is  about  the  same  as  it  is  in 
the  world,  which  requires  that  girls  who  are  "in 


88          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

the  swim"  must  have  a  variety  of  garments  for 
different  occasions.  The  girl  we  are  considering 
realized  that  if  she  did  not  study  the  problem  of 
clothes  a  great  deal  she  could  not  keep  abreast  of 
the  swiftly  changing  fashions.  She  would  have 
been  glad  to  give  her  attention  mainly  to  the  in- 
tellectual work  of  the  college,  and  to  such  social 
life  as  did  not  depend  upon  thinking  unduly 
about  clothes,  but  the  pressure  was  so  great  that 
she  was  more  and  more  led  away  from  intel- 
lectual pursuits,  until  now  a  large  part  of  her 
energy  is  devoted  to  trying  to  secure  clothes 
which  will  be  up-to-the-minute  in  style.  She  is 
still  endeavoring,  however,  to  make  a  good  record 
in  her  college  work,  and  the  result  is  that  her 
energies  are  running  down  to  a  low  point.  If  she 
keeps  up  the  pace  throughout  her  college  career 
she  will  be  so  depleted  at  the  end  that  it  will  be  a 
long  time  before  she  can  utilize  the  intellectual 
training  which  she  has  received  in  college. 

The  girl  realizes  that  some  of  her  new  garments 
make  her  look  freakish,  but  still  they  are  in  style. 
It  seems  a  tragedy  that  she  should  spend  so  much 
of  her  time  and  energy  in  securing  clothes  which 
are  unsuited  to  her  particular  style  of  beauty. 
And  why  is  it  necessary?  Because  the  women 
who  set  the  pace  are  spending  most  of  their 
energy  and  intellect  in  this  direction,  and  a  sensi- 
tive girl  does  not  want  to  be  left  out  of  considera- 
tion in  a  social  way.  One  would  think  the  pres- 


GIRL  PROBLEMS  89 

sure  from  the  world  could  be  kept  out  of  college, 
but  this  is  not  the  case.  In  most  of  the  educa- 
tional institutions  to  which  women  are  admitted, 
keeping  up  with  the  styles  plays  a  dominant  role 
in  the  life  and  work  of  a  large  proportion  of  the 
girls.  They  are  often  ridiculous  in  their  eccentric 
garments,  and  their  fellow  students  laugh  at 
them,  but  still  they  would  rather  be  laughed  at 
than  be  out  of  style.  They  would  indeed  rather 
be  out  of  the  world  than  be  out  of  fashion.  This 
is  a  very  profound  trait  of  human  nature,  and  so 
long  as  the  women  out  in  the  world  devote  their 
time  largely  to  securing  new  garments,  the  college 
girl  will  do  the  same.  There  will  be  exceptions, 
but  the  majority  will  try  to  keep  up  with  the 
fashionable  procession. 

Reduce  the  Demands  of  Fashion. —  The  ulti- 
mate success  of  women  in  colleges  and  universi- 
ties will  depend  upon  whether  it  will  be  possible 
to  make  the  pressure  from  the  fashions  of  the 
world  less  urgent  than  it  now  is.  Of  course,  there 
are  some  girls  in  every  educational  institution 
who  ignore  this  pressure.  They  are  the  ones, 
generally  speaking,  who  achieve  distinction  in  the 
proper  work  of  the  college  or  university;  but 
where  there  is  one  of  this  sort  there  may  be  half- 
dozen  of  the  other  sort.  This  half-dozen  who 
make  no  record  in  intellectual  activities  may  have 
native  ability,  but  they  devote  their  talents  to 
puzzling  over  the  questions  of  dress  instead  of 


90          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

mastering  history,  or  household  arts,  or  educa- 
tion. 

Here  is  a  cause  which  might  well  engage  the 
attention  of  women  who  are  looking  for  some- 
thing to  reform.  One  thing  is  certain,  the  higher 
education  of  women  will  not  be  a  tremendous 
success  if  girl  students  must  devote  a  large  part 
of  their  intellectual  activities  and  their  vitalities 
to  the  strain  and  tension  of  constantly  changing 
the  styles  of  their  raiment.  Of  course,  no  one 
will  interpret  what  is  said  herein  to  mean  that 
girls  in  higher  institutions  should  not  make  them- 
selves as  attractive  as  can  be  done.  This  is  pre-\ 
cisely  what  they  should  do;  but  making  oneself 
attractive  is  one  thing,  and  keeping  abreast  of  the 
styles  is  another  and  altogether  different  thing. 
\  The  Social  Life  of  the  Girl  in  School  and  College. ' 
— Let  us  glance  now  at  another  aspect  of  the  life 
of  the  girl  in  school  and  college.  She  has  sought 
to  provide  for  her  social  needs  by  establishing 
secret  societies.  It  is  generally  recognized  now 
that  the  members  of  a  college  sorority  are 
brought  into  more  intimate  contact  with  one  an- 
other than  they  could  be  if  they  remained  outside 
of  a  secret  society.  Non-sorority  girls  in  the 
larger  co-educational  institutions  have  established 
various  organizations  of  a  social,  literary,  athletic, 
and  religious  character,  but  the  members  of  these 
groups  are  only  loosely  bound  together,  and  a  girl 
in  becoming  a  member  of  any  group  does  not  as- 


i 


GIRL  PROBLEMS  91 

sume  obligations  of  an  exacting  or  impressive 
character.  Membership  in  one  group  does  not 
exclude  a  girl  from  other  groups.  But  member- 
ship in  a  secret  society  practically  limits  a  girl's 
close  friendships  to  her  society,  and  sometimes 
it  excludes  her  from  attachments  with  literary, 
religious,  and  similar  societies.  A  secret  Greek- 
letter  society  demands  more  of  its  members  than 
do  non-secret  societies.  It  is  jealous  of  their 
affections  and  aims  to  monopolize  their  affilia- 
tions. 

Membership  in  a  sorority  gives  opportunity  for 
the  cultivation  of  social  graces  and  skill  which 
usually  cannot  be  secured  outside.  Also,  young 
girls  unaccustomed  to  life  away  from  home  are 
frequently  steadied  and  guided  by  membership  in 
a  sorority,  especially  one  which  is  organized  so 
that  the  older  and  experienced  members  assume 
direct  responsibility  for  the  conduct  of  the 
younger  and  inexperienced  ones. 

Disadvantages  of  Secret  Societies. —  There  are 
some  disadvantages  connected  with  membership 
in  sororities.  It  is  not  unusual  to  find  girls  who 
do  not  form  any  friendships  outside  of  their  own 
special  "set."  There  is  probably  more  acute 
rivalry  between  sororities  for  social  prestige  than 
between  men's  societies.  Girls  often  strive  in- 
tensely to  make  their  respective  sororities  as 
prominent  as  possible,  and  jealousy  is  likely  to 
flourish  under  these  conditions.  One  hears  of 


92          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

girls  who  before  going  to  college  were  close 
friends,  but  after  the  same  girls  had  joined  dif- 
ferent sororities  in  the  college  they  lost  their 
attachment  for  one  another  and  even  became 
jealous  rivals. 

Not  only  do  the  sororities  frequently  alienate 
one-time  friends,  but  rival  cliques  often  form 
within  the  sororities  themselves.  It  is  apparently 
not  so  common  for  a  group  of  thirty  or  forty 
girls  to  be  joined  together  in  a  secret  society  and 
live  together  in  peace,  harmony,  and  good-will, 
as  it  is  for  boys  to  do  this  in  similar  circum- 
stances. While  a  sorority  may  present  a  unified 
and  harmonious  aspect  to  the  outside  world,  still 
there  may  be  bickerings,  jealousies  and  intense 
animosities  within,  which  never  would  develop  if 
girls  were  not  thrown  together  so  intimately. 
The  closer  and  more  exclusive  the  organization 
the  greater  is  the  likelihood  of  the  formation  of 
cliques,  with  the  development  of  personal  an- 
tagonisms. 

So  it  not  infrequently  happens  that  while  pre- 
sumably a  sorority  provides  facilities  for  the  de- 
velopment of  intimate  friendships  among  all  its 
members,  still  the  number  of  such  friendships 
formed  by  an  individual  member  may  be  not  more 
than  six  or  eight, —  simply  the  number  in  a  par- 
ticular clique.  One  clique  may  not  have  much  to 
do  with  any  other  one.  Being  bound  so  closely 
together  they  grate  upon  one  another's  nerve  ap- 


GIRL  PROBLEMS  93 

parently,  and  easily  become  suspicious  of  one  an- 
other's motives. 

Should  a  Girl  Join  a  Sorority? —  Should  a  girl 
who  enters  a  co-educational  college  join  a  soror- 
ity then?  It  depends.  The  majority  of  girls 
would  be  extremely  unhappy  if  they  were  de- 
prived of  membership.  On  the  whole,  it  might 
be  better  if  all  sororities  could  be  abolished,  and 
if  in  their  place  could  be  established  more  loosely- 
organized  societies  in  which  the  temptation  to 
develop  cliques  would  not  be  so  great,  and  which 
would  not  circumscribe  a  girl's  social  contact  so 
closely  as  sororities  tend  to  do.  But  in  institu- 
tions where  they  exist,  a  socially-inclined  girl  will 
probably  be  aided  by  membership  in  a  sorority. 
In  most  colleges  and  universities  such  member- 
ship confers  social  prestige,  and  practically  all 
girls  would  prefer  to  undergo  the  handicaps  of 
membership  than  to  forego  the  thing  which  ap- 
peals to  many  of  them  as  of  great  importance  in 
college  life, —  popularity  in  a  social  way. 

The  most  encouraging  feature  respecting  sor- 
orities is  that  that  they  are  growing  in  breadth. 
In  the  stronger  colleges  and  universities  there 
are  inter-sorority  societies  which  are  enlarging  the 
sympathies  and  extending  the  acquaintanceship 
of  sorority  members.  In  at  least  a  few  of  the  state 
universities  there  is  genuine  friendship  develop- 
ing between  the  members  of  the  different  groups. 
Together  they  undertake  worthy  enterprises  in 


94          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

furthering  the  interests  of  girls  in  their  re- 
spective institutions.  They  are  endowing  scholar- 
ships for  deserving  students.  They  are  helping 
to  establish  cooperative  homes  for  self-support- 
ing girls.  And  in  other  ways  they  are  fostering 
movements  of  a  democratic  character.  In  any 
institution  in  which  the  sororities  are  conducted 
on  these  broad,  helpful  lines,  only  good  can  come 
from  them. 


CHAPTER  IV 
WHEN  THE  TENDER  PASSION  APPEARS 

Social  Relations  of  Boys  and  Girls. —  Before 
the  age  of  twelve  or  thirteen,  boys  and  girls  think 
of  one  another  simply  as  playmates,  or,  perhaps, 
as  competitors  or  rivals  for  the  same  favors.  A 
boy  of  this  age  will  speak  in  a  commendatory  way 
of  a  girl  of  his  acquaintance  if  she  can  take  a  part 
in  a  game,  or  if  she  is  ready  and  resourceful  in 
the  enterprises  in  which  children  are  interested. 
But  if  she  can  not  run  fast  or  dodge  skillfully,  he 
is  apt  to  ignore  her  or  say  uncomplimentary 
things  about  her.  The  writer  has  been  listening 
to  J.  talking  about  the  girls  in  his  graded  school. 
What  he  has  to  say  about  them  is  much  the  same 
in  principle  as  what  other  boys  say  of  girls.  He 
always  sniffs  at  the  mention  of  a  certain  girl. 
He  calls  her  a  "crybaby,"  or  a  "milk-baby,"  or 
a  "fraidicat,"  or  a  "tittle-tattle."  His  whole 
feeling  of  her  is  summed  up  in  the  one  phrase 
"she  is  no  good."  She  does  well  in  school,  and 
enjoys  the  friendship  of  her  teachers;  but  she 
does  not  enjoy  the  rough  ways  of  boys.  They  like 
to  plague  her  by  telling  her  they  are  going  to  run 

95 


06          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

over  her  when  she  is  on  the  walk  in  front  of  the 
boys.  They  are  quite  expert  in  teasing  her  so  she 
is  not  at  all  happy  in  their  presence.  The  boys 
do  not  seem  to  consider  her  sex  at  all.  They  have 
no  chivalric  feeling.  They  simply  do  not  care  for 
her  because  she  can  not  participate  in  the  games 
and  plays  which  interest  them.  She  tends  to 
break  up  any  games  she  gets  into  because  she 
always  wants  the  boys  to  play  in  a  less  vigorous 
way  then  they  wish  to.  She  can  not  hold  her 
own,  and  as  they  say,  they  "  have  no  time  for 
her." 

J.  has  a  somewhat  similar  feeling  for  another 
girl  in  his  room  who  cries  on  the  slightest  provo- 
cation. He  has  done  his  part  to  develop  this 
peculiarity,  although  one  can  not  make  him  ac- 
knowledge that  he  has  done  anything  mean  in  his 
treatment  of  her.  He  feels  that  she  ought  to  be 
tantalized  because  of  her  " silly,"  whimpering 
ways.  Some  of  the  adults  who  know  the  girl 
sympathize  with  her  because  she  is  not  in  a  good 
nervous  condition.  These  adults  take  particular 
pains  not  to  annoy  or  frighten  her  in  any  way. 
But  it  is  just  the  reverse  with  the  boys  in  J.'s 
group.  They  do  not  seem  to  have  any  tender  feel- 
ing for  such  a  girl,  and  of  course  they  would  not 
have  it  either  for  a  boy  who  possessed  her  charac- 
teristics. 

There  is  another  girl  in  J.  's  class  at  school  who 
possesses  characteristics  almost  diametrically  op- 


Listening-  to  music  is  better  than  dancing. 


This  is  better  than  ball-room  dancing-  for  boys  and  girls. 


WHEN  THE  TENDER  PASSION  APPEARS  97 

posite  to  those  of  the  first  two  girls  mentioned. 
She  is  a  "torn-boy."  She  can  run  as  fast  as  any 
of  the  boys.  She  orders  them  around,  and  she 
will  not  give  in  to  them  on  any  occasion.  She  can 
talk  as  loud  as  they  can,  and  can  use  as  dynamic 
expressions  as  they  do.  She  is  good  at  all  sorts 
of  games;  and  she  really  has  a  boy's  traits  with 
respect  to  physical  skill  and  endurance.  But  she 
gets  on  J.'s  nerves.  While  he  likes  a  girl  who 
can  play  games  and  not  whimper  over  rough 
treatment,  at  the  same  time  he  cannot  endure 
one  who  is  as  much  of  a  boy  as  he  is  himself,  and 
especially  one  who  plays  the  role  of  a  boy.  So  he 
has  uncomplimentary  things  to  say  about  this 
latter  girl  too.  He  says, — "She  thinks  she  owns 
everything;  she  wants  to  'lord  it  over  everybody'; 
she  thinks  she  is  the  '  whole  shooting  match'  "; 
and  he  has  command  of  a  very  choice  lot  of  expres- 
sive figures  of  speech  designed  to  convey  the  idea 
that  she  feels  she  can  do  better  than  the  rest  of 
them  in  whatever  she  undertakes,  and  she  intends 
to  be  at  the  head  of  the  "gang." 

There  are  still  other  girls  in  J.'s  room  who 
come  in  between  the  extremes  mentioned  above. 
They  can  play  games  fairly  well,  and  they  do  not 
break  up  the  group  when  they  play  together  be- 
cause they  do  not  object  to  the  rough  ways  of  the 
boys.  They  do  not ' '  tell  tales  out  of  school, ' '  and 
so  the  boys  feel  they  can  be  trusted  to  be  loyal  to 
the  group.  This  is  not  at  all  true  of  the  first  girls 


08          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

described.  But  while  the  boys  in  J.'s  group  do 
frequently  play  with  some  of  the  girls  who  har- 
monize with  the  group  quite  well,  nevertheless 
the  boys  would  rather  play  by  themselves;  they 
do  not  spontaneously  choose  to  take  the  girls  into 
their  games.  It  is  only  when  they  need  them  to 
fill  out  a  game  that  they  invite  them.  They 
hardly  ever  go  over  to  join  the  girl  groups ;  they 
always  bring  the  girls  into  the  games  which  they 
initiate  themselves. 

The  Beginning  of  the  Sentimental  Relation. — 
When  these  boys  reach  the  age  of  fifteen  they  will 
assume  an  altogether  different  attitude  toward 
girls.  The  latter  will  no  longer  be  regarded  as 
playfellows  simply.  A  particular  girl  will  not  be 
selected  or  discarded  on  the  basis  of  her  capacity 
to  endure  pain  or  her  ability  to  play  games.  After 
the  age  of  seven,  boys  go  on  developing  team 
spirit  and  perfecting  themselves  in  games  and 
plays.  On  the  other  hand,  girls  as  they  develop 
do  not  take  so  much  interest  in  games.  They  do 
not  to  any  large  extent  develop  the  team  spirit. 
At  fifteen  they  are  not  interested  in  competitive 
games  as  the  boys  are.  As  they  grow  up  they 
become  more  personal  and  individual  in  their 
feelings  and  activities,  while  the  boys  develop 
the  group  instinct  more  fully.  A  boy  of  fifteen 
would  not  expect  a  girl  to  be  a  good  associate  or 
competitor  in  games.  If  he  would  play  with  her 
it  would  be  to  please  her  rather  than  to  exercise 


WHEN  THE  TENDER  PASSION  APPEARS  99 

his  own  abilities  and  powers  in  an  interesting 
way. 

What  is  the  relation  of  the  boy  to  the  girl  at 
this  time?  Mainly  a  sentimental  one.  He  is 
interested  in  girls  now  on  account  of  their  per- 
sonal characteristics,  their  appearance,  and  their 
liveliness  of  manner.  A  girl  is  not  chosen  as  a 
favorite  primarily  on  account  of  her  intellectual 
or  ethical  qualities.  But  the  point  to  be  impressed 
is  that  the  girl  attracts  the  boy  primarily  because 
of  outward  characteristics.  The  boy  will  show 
favors  to  the  "pretty"  girl,  whereas  he  may 
neglect  altogether  one  of  plain  features  and  gen- 
eral appearance  but  who  is  intellectually  and  so- 
cially superior  to  the  "handsome"  girl. 

The  Kind  of  Boy  Who  Attracts  the  Girl— 
What  qualities  in  the  boy  will  attract  the  girl  at 
this  time?  The  good,  scholarly  boy  usually  makes 
but  little  impression  upon  her.  It  is  the  boy  on 
the  football  team  or  on  some  other  athletic  team 
who  appeals  to  her  imagination.  She  likes  the  \ 
hero  type  of  boy,  one  who  is  physically  vigorous. 
A  quiet,  studious  fellow  is  not  spectacular  enough 
to  win  her  regard.  She  is  not  drawn  toward  the 
scholar;  but  she  may  be  drawn  toward  the  other 
fellow,  though  he  may  be  a  dullard  in  books,  and 
though  he  may  be  skating  on  thin  ice  ethically  and 
morally.  But  he  possesses  certain  marked  mascu- 
line qualities  which  make  a  strong  appeal  to  the 
girl. 


100  THE  TREND  OP  THE  TEENS 

It  should  be  remarked  in  passing  that  in  the 
management  of  any  school  in  which  there  are  boys 
and  girls  from  twelve  up  to  sixteen  or  seventeen, 
it  is  important  to  bring  the  leaders  among  the 
girls  and  among  the  boys  into  sympathy  with  the 
spirit  of  the  school.  A  girl  who  strongly  attracts 
boys  can  raise  Cain  in  a  school  if  she  sets  herself 
against  the  teacher.  She  will  have  the  boys  on 
her  side  in  every  contest,  and  she  can  induce 
them,  without  ever  asking  them  so  to  do,  to  make 
life  a  burden  for  the  teachers.  To  a  less  extent 
the  hero  among  the  boys  can  turn  the  sympathy 
of  a  school  against  the  teacher  if  he  so  tries. 
It  will  always  be  a  hard  role  for  a  teacher  if  he^ 
cannot  make  the  most  attractive  girl  and  the  most  < 
vigorous  and  dynamic  boy  his  friends,  or  at  least 
induce  them  to  work  in  harmony  with  him.  It  will 
be  impossible  for  a  teacher  to  hold  out  for  a  long 
period  against  the  general  sentiment  of  his  school. 
In  the  end!  the  group  will  triumph  if  it  is  fairly  j 
well  unified,  and  takes  every  opportunity  to  hector 
the  teacher  and  oppose  his  authority. 

Amorousness  in  a  School. —  A  principal  of  a 
grammar  school  writes  that  the  relations  between 
the  boys  and  the  girls  in  his  school  are  unwhole- 
some. Even  as  early  as  the  sixth  grade  every 
boy  and  girl  has  a  "steady."  The  talk  of  the 
school  relates  quite  largely  to  amorous  and  even 
lewd  attachments.  Boys  and  girls  go  off  together 
all  hours  of  the  day  and  night,  and  the  principal 


WHEN  THE  TENDER  PASSION  APPEARS     101 

thinks  they  go  beyond  proper  limits  in  their  rela- 
tions with  each  other.  The  work  of  the  school  is 
low  because  so  much  of  the  attention  of  pupils  is 
given  to  amorous  matters.  The  people  in  the 
community  do  not  seem  to  mind  it.  They  say  it 
has  " always  been  so,"  and  it  is  not  different  in 
that  school  from  what  it  is  in  others.  The  prin- 
cipal is  new  in  this  position  and  he  says  he  does 
not  think  such  conditions  exist  in  schools  else- 
where. 

This  is  an  unusual  case.  The  explanation  is 
that  it  "has  always  been  so."  If  one  could  un- 
ravel the  history  of  the  thing  he  would  probably 
find  that  the  adults  of  the  community  really 
started  it.  In  some  communities  the  chief  topic 
of  conversation  is  amorous  relations.  Many  of 
the  people  are  morbid  on  the  subject.  Young  per- 
sons growing  up  in  such  a  community  have  amor- 
ousness suggested  to  them  on  every  occasion.  It 
is  no  wonder  that  they  become  sophisticated  too 
early  in  respect  to  this  matter. 

Suggestion  plays  the  chief  role  in  the  develop- 
ment of  sex  feeling.    If  boys  and  girls  could  be/; 
brought  up  in  a  community  where  there  was  little/ 
or  no  suggestion  of  amorousness  they  would  not 
develop  this  feeling  early,  and  it  would  not  be 
intense  at  any  time.    This  is  directly  contrary  to 
the  popular  belief  that  in  the  course  of  develop-^ 
ment  this  feeling  will  develop  wholly  from  within, 
and  that  it  is  not  at  all  under  the  control  of  out- 


102          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

side  influences.  The  popular  belief  is  fundamen- 
tally wrong  on  this  point. 

In  some  schools  most  of  the  traditions  and  talk 
relate  to  amorous  matters.  One  generation  of 
pupils  passes  it  on  to  the  next.  It  requires  posi- 
tive, dynamic,  constructive  measures  to  divert  the 
attention  of  pupils  in  such  a  school  into  non-sex 
channels.  There  is  no  solution  of  the  problem 
except  substitution  of  more  wholesome  interests 
for  the  morbid  amorous  ones,  and  especially  is  it 
necessary  to  control  the  suggestions  in  the  school, 
on  the  street,  in  the  moving  picture  theatre,  and 
so  on,  that  play  upon  the  young  so  that  they  will 
not  relate  to  sex  matters. 

The  aim  of  parent,  teacher,  and  custodian  of 
morals  in  every  place  must  be  to  eliminate  un- 
wholesome suggestion.  Where  this  has  been  ac- 
complished successfully  amorousness  is  not  a 
serious  problem.  Boys  and  girls  grow  up  practic- 
ally to  maturity  looking  upon  one  another  as 
friends,  companions,  comrades,  playfellows,  be- 
cause their  relations  have  been  along  these  lines. 
The  writer  has  been  able  to  observe  the  develop- 
ment of  a  number  of  boys  and  girls  who  afford 
proof  of  this  principle.  In  the  same  community 
are  other  boys  and  girls  who  have  been  subjected 
to  lewd  suggestion  in  conversation,  in  burlesque 
theatres,  in  their  reading,  etc.,  and  they  have  been 
influenced  unwholesomely  by  it.  The  boys  and 
girls  who  have  retained  the  relation  of  comrade- 


WHEN  THE  TENDER  PASSION  APPEARS          103 

ship  up  through  the  teens  are  more  vigorous  and 
dynamic  in  every  way  than  those  whose  thoughts 
and'~energies  have  run  off  into  the  amorous  route 
early  in  the  teens,  so  that  they  have  not  developed 
vigorous  intellectual,  athletic  and  social  interests. 

The  problem  of  the  reformer  is  to  keep  out  of 
sight  and  out  of  hearing  all  matters  that  incite  the 
amorous  tendencies.  Nature  will  not  develop 
them  in  the  early  teens  in  a  dominating  way  un- 
less they  are  excited  from  without. 

Comradeship  Rather  Than  Amorousness  in  the  ij 
Early  Teens. —  Most  parents  have  sooner  or  later  /I  \ 
to  meet  the  problem  presented  in  the  following/  \ 
letter :  \ 

"  There  are  a  number  of  parents  in  our  com- 
munity who  let  their  young  boys  and  girls  go  to 
evening  parties  that  are  not  chaperoned  by  adult 
persons.  The  ages  of  the  boys  and  girls  are  from 
twelve  to  fifteen.  Each  boy  takes  a  girl  to  the 
party  and  takes  her  home  again.  At  the  parties 
they  play  games,  dance,  have  a  lunch  and  then 
go  home  at  about  half-past  eleven.  Is  this  a 
wholesome  situation? " 

Boys  and  girls  ought  not  to  be  greatly  con- 
cerned about  one  another  at  the  age  of  twelve, 
thirteen,  fourteen,  or  fifteen.  At  sixteen  or  sev- 
enteen it  is  inevitable  that  sex  attraction  should 
begin  to  play  a  prominent  role  in  the  relations  of 
boys  and  girls,  and  proper  provision  should  be 
made  for  indulging  this  interest.  It  would  be 


104  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

better  if  boys  and  girls  could  go  on  hikes  and 
picnics   frequently   rather   than   to   spend  much 
time  in  dancing  as  they  often  do.    Also  it  would 
be  better  if  they  would  be  together  principally 
during  the  day-time  rather  than  during  the  night- 
time.    They  should  learn  how  to  cooperate  in 
their  plays  and  in  their  work,     They  should  be 
good  companions  and  playfellows  at  sixteen  or 
seventeen.    Dancing  does  not  cultivate  comrade- 
ship so  much  as  it  arouses  intense  feeling.    Un- 
fortunately in  many  places,  boys  and  girls  seem 
to  be  ill-at-ease  in  one  another's  presence  unless 
they  are  dancing.    But  when  groups  of  boys  and 
girls  go  off  on  picnics  or  on  nature-study  trips, 
or  when  they  work  together  in  the  laboratories  in 
the  school,  they  need  no  chaperoning.     There  is 
little  likelihood  of  improper  relations  developing 
when  boys  and  girls  are  together  in  groups  and 
engaged  in  wholesome  activities.    But  it  is  rather 
different  with  dancing.     This   activity  is   over- 
exciting  to  many  boys  and  girls,  and  it  occurs  un- 
der conditions  which  tend  to  weaken  self-restraint. 
When   Chaperoning   is   Necessary. —  For   this 
reason,  chaperons  are  necessary  at  dances,  and  it 
would  be  beneficial  if  boys  and  girls  could  be 
chaperoned  on  their  way  home  too.     They  really 
need  chaperones  more  on  the  way  from  the  dance 
than  they  do  at  the  dance  itself.  At  the  same  time 
too  much  chaperonage  is  likely  to  develop  the 
very  evils  which  it  is  designed  to  correct.    Boys 


WHEN  THE  TENDER  PASSION  APPEARS  105 

and  girls  should  not  be  given  the  impression  that 
they  are  being  spied  upon.    The  best  way  would 
be  to  arrange  it  so  that  they  should  go  directly 
home  after  a  dance.    There  should  be  no  loitering, 
no  visiting  ice-cream  parlors,  no  joy  riding,  no 
strolling.    "Straight  home"  should  be  the  invari-' 
able  rule.    If  this  could  be  carried  out,  it  would 
be  advisable  to  get  along  with  a  miminum  of  j 
chaperonage. 

In  dealing  with  the  problem  under  considera- 
tion it  should  be  kept  in  mind  that  the  typical  boy 
or  girl  in  the  teens  prefers  the  allurements  of  the 
ballroom  to  almost  everything  else.  The  dance 
seems  to  be  attracting  young  people  more  and 
more  strongly  every  year.  And  once  a  youth 
comes  under  the  influence  of  the  dance,  he  never 
knows  when  to  stop.  In  many  places  there  is  con- 
stant conflict  between  teachers  and  parents  on  the 
one  side  and  boys  and  girls  on  the  other  in  regard 
to  the  hour  when  their  dancing  parties  must  term- 
inate. There  is  the  same  struggle  between  fac- 
ulty and  students  in  the  college  and  the  univer- 
sity. Young  people,  if  left  to  themselves,  lose 
their  sense  of  proportion  completely  under  the 
seductive  influence  of  the  ballroom. 

There  is  a  fascination,  too,  for  both  sexes  in 
promenading  the  streets  at  night.  Usually  there 
is  color  and  stir  and  novelty  on  the  streets.  There 
is  also  adventure.  Generally  the  life  of  the  streets 
at  night  is  adapted  to  excite  the  young  and  it  is 


106  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

often  so  planned,  because  when  they  are  excited 
they  will  be  likely  to  indulge  their  impulses,  and 
those  who  provide  the  means  of  indulgence  will  be 
enriched  thereby.  The  boy  especially  is  apt  to  be 
unduly  aroused  by  what  he  sees  and  hears  on  the 
street.  Most  evil  habits  are  formed  in  connection 
with  street  experiences  at  night.  When  young  peo- 
ple are  excited  by  this  kind  of  life,  they  crave 
further  excitement. 

A  person,  and  especially  a  youth,  in  a  highly 
stimulated  condition  is  not  likely  to  let  down 
easily,  and  he  will  seek  artificial  stimulation  to 
keep  up  his  nervous  exhilaration.  This  law  of 
human  nature  is  seen  in  adult  life  as  well  as  in 
youth.  Those  who  go  the  pace  crave  strong  stim- 
ulants. The  actor,  for  instance,  wrho  is  keyed  up 
by  his  part  often  cannot  leave  the  stage  and  go 
calmly  home.  He  must  have  a  drink  or  go  to  the 
cabaret  show  where  the  sounds  and  sights  keep  up 
his  nervous  excitation. 

The  Problem  of  the  Dance. —  The  chief  problem 
of  parents  and  teachers  in  having  youth  keep  rea- 
sonable hours  arises  in  relation  to  the  dance.  In 
American  life  young  persons  have  got  into  the 
habit  of  going  late  to  their  dances  and  staying 
until  early  morning  hours.  This  practice,  if  per- 
sisted in,  will  work  harm  to  body  and  character. 
No  boy  or  grl  in  the  teens  should  be  up  later  than 
ten  o'clock  at  night  except  on  rare  occasions.  Ex- 
cesses of  every  sort  in  amusements  flourish  after 


WHEN  THE  TENDER  PASSION  APPEARS  107 

ten  o'clock  rather  than  before.  The  later  the 
hour,  the  greater  the  danger  of  undue  excitement 
with  lack  of  proper  restraint.  The  youth  whose 
amusements  keep  him  up  frequently  beyond  ten 
o'clock  is  in  the  way  of  going  astray,  because  he 
will  be  tempted  constantly  to  indulgence  of  his 
primitive  passions.  But  the  youth  who  habitually 
is  at  home  and  in  bed  by  ten  o'clock  stands  a  good 
chance  of  holding  his  impulses  in  check.  College 
fellows  who  drink  and  indulge  in  vice  get  started 
in  the  late  hours  of  the  night.  Dissipation  rarely  , 
begins  in  the  early  evening. 

Late  Hours  Injurious. —  In  every  community 
the  parents  should  agree  that  all  parties  for 
young  people  should  stop  at  ten  o'clock.  Only 
evil  can  result  in  the  long  run  unless  this  rule  is 
followed  unwaveringly.  Young  people  will  ad- 
vance all  sorts  of  arguments  for  breaking  over 
now  and  again,  but  they  will  soon  become  content 
with  the  plan  if  they  see  that  they  must  conform 
to  it.  They  will  be  happier  in  the  end  if  they  stop 
dancing  by  ten  than  if  they  go  on  until  one  or 
two  in  the  morning.  They  will  not  be  any  more 
satisfied  at  two  o'clock  than  at  ten  o'clock. 

Parents  should  support  teachers  in  their  efforts 
to  control  the  amusements  of  the  young,  especi- 
ally dancing.  Unfortunately,  some  parents  delib- 
erately encourage  their  children  to  lead  an  exces- 
sive party  life  because  this  seems  to  give  them 
social  distinction  and  prestige.  A  mother  in  a 


108          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

middle  western  town  recently  had  a  daughter  who 
graduated  from  the  eighth  grade.  In  order  to 
celebrate  this  achievement  the  mother  gave  a 
dancing  party  for  the  girl.  The  young  people 
danced  until  half -past  twelve,  when  they  had  sup- 
per. They  were  not  home  until  two  o'clock.  This 
is,  of  course,  an  unusual  case,  but  it  set  a  bad 
example.  It  would  have  been  better  for  the 
mother  to  have  given  a  party  in  which  the  chil- 
dren would  have  engaged  in  games  and  plays  dur- 
ing the  afternoon. 

The  Dance  Problem  is  Always  a  Pressmg  One. 
— There  has  apparently  been  no  time  since  civil- 
ization began  that  people  have  not  discussed  the 
question  of  dancing.  It  is  probable  that  the  ma- 
jority of  adults  to-day  think  it  would  be  better  if 
young  people  would  not  dance  as  much  as  they  do, 
and  especially  would  not  indulge  in  the  types  of 
dances  which  are  fashionable  now.  The  writer 
knows  of  many  communities  in  which  the  min- 
isters, as  well  as  others,  are  violently  opposed  to 
dancing,  and  they  attempt  by  various  means  to 
suppress  it. 

The  ball-room  is  undoubtedly  a  source  of  evil 
to  many  young  people, —  particularly  so  in  our 
day  because  of  the  prevailing  methods  of  danc- 
ing, which  encourage  extreme  intimacy.  But  it  is 
significant  that  these  new  dances  have  become 
very  popular  in  the  face  of  vigorous  opposition 
from  ministers,  teachers,  and  others.  This  fact 


WHEN  THE  TENDER  PASSION  APPEARS          109 

should  impress  anyone  who  wishes  to  reduce  the 
evils  of  the  dance  with  the  impotency  of  our  usual 
methods  of  dealing  with  it.  No  one  ever  stopped 
dancing  by  threatening  young  people  with  ever- 
lasting torment  if  they  indulge  in  it.  Parents 
often  say  to  their  children:  "You  can't  dance. 
You  must  stay  at  home  instead  of  going  to  the 
ball-room. "  Parents  who  pursue  these  methods 
fail  more  often  than  they  succeed  and  they  are 
apt  to  develop  antagonisms  between  themselves 
and  their  children. 

The  people  in  a  western  city  recently  had  the 
teacher  of  physical  culture  dismissed  because  she 
taught  folk-dancing  in  the  schools.  The  board  of 
education  forbade  the  use  of  school  buildings  for 
dancing  of  any  kind  at  any  time  or  by  pupils  of 
any  age.  These  good  people  made  a  serious 
blunder,  and  they  now  appreciate  it.  Commercial 
dances  have  developed  with  great  fury  in  that 
city. 

Constructive  Treatment  Alone  Will  Correct  the 
Evil. —  No  evil  has  ever  been  corrected  simply  by 
condemning  those  who  practice  it.  This  is  espe- 
cially true  of  the  dance.  It  has  a  peculiar  fascina- 
tion, and  any  young  person  who  has  felt  the  thrill 
of  it  is  not  likely  to  be  dissuaded  from  seeking  a 
repetition  of  it  by  threatenings  from  any  source. 
Is  there  any  way  then  that  people  can  be  re- 
strained in  respect  to  the  dance?  Only  by  diver- 
sion; not  by  repression.  If  a  boy  has  an  oppor- 


110  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

/  tunity  to  go  to  a  playground  or  gymnasium  and 
/   engage  in  competitive  games  with  his  fellows  he 
will   ordinarily   stay  away  from  the  ball-room. 
Also  if  he  can  have  access  to  a  swimming  pool,  if 
>  he  can  attend  a  good  moving  picture  show  in  the 
school  or  church  building, —  in  short  if  he  has  an 
opportunity  to  do  anything  wholesome  which  ap- 
peals to  his  active  social  and  motor  interests  his 
attention  will  be  diverted  from  the  dance  hall. 

The  writer  has  been  making  observations  in  a 
number  of  towns  and  cities  throughout  the  coun- 
try regarding  the  extent  to  which  young  people 
use  church  facilities  during  the  week,  and  espe- 
cially during  evenings.  He  has  found  that  in  a 
few  places  churches  provide  swimming  pools, 
basket  ball  courts,  bowling  alleys,  reading  rooms, 
game  rooms,  and  so  on.  It  is  difficult  in  such 
places  to  provide  for  all  the  young  people  who 
want  to  take  advantage  of  these  facilities,  which 
indicates  how  much  they  are  needed.  But  in  eight 
out  of  ten  communities  the  churches  make  no  pro- 
vision for  the  social  or  dynamic  interests  of 
young  people. 

In  some  places  the  school  buildings  are  open 
during  the  evenings,  and  opportunities  are  pro- 
vided for  the  indulgence  of  the  natural  instincts 
and  impulses  of  the  young.  Wherever  this  is  done 
young  people  dp  not  crave  the  ball-room ;  they  go 
/to  the  school  center  instead.  This  suggests  the 
way  in  which  the  dance  evil  can  be  controlled, — by 


WHEN  THE  TENDER  PASSION  APPEARS  111 

positive,  constructive  treatment,  rather   than  by  f 
mere  prohibition  or  censure. 

Is  the  High  School  a  Breeding  Place  for  Vice? — 
The  writer  has  never  found  a  person  who  has  been 
able  to  furnish  accurate  data  showing  that  vice  is 
rampant  in  the  high  school.  When  questioned, 
people  who  complain  about  the  morals  of  the  high 
school  say  that  they  have  heard  such  and  such  per- 
sons say  that  vicious  practices  are  very  common. 
They  do  not  themselves  know  of  any  definite  in- 
stance of  vicious  conduct,  but  they  do  know  of  per- 
sons who  know  of  other  persons  who  have  heard 
some  one  say  that  the  boys  and  girls  in  the  high 
school  indulge  in  vicious  practice  without  much 
restraint. 

It  would  be  a  miracle  if  in  a  large  high  school 
there  were  not  boys  and  girls  who  did  occasionally 
go  wrong,  but  investigations  have  been  made  in 
certain  large  high  schools  which  rumor  says  are 
"honey-combed  with  vice,"  and  it  has  been  proven 
that  these  rumors  are  in  reality  false.  In  one  high 
school  the  newspapers  recently  reported  that 
moral  conditions  were  exceedingly  bad.  They 
claimed  that  many  of  the  girls  were  compelled  to 
leave  the  schools  for  maternity  hospitals,  that  the 
boys  were  under  the  care  of  physicians,  and  so  on. 
A  careful  investigation  was  made  by  the  dean  of 
girls  and  the  boys'  physical  director  and  it  was 
found  that  the  accusations  against  the  school  were 
utterly  without  foundation.  The  stories  had  their 


112         THE  TREND  OP  THE  TEENS 

origin  in  a  case  of  wrong  doing  by  a  boy  and  girl 
who  had  formerly  been  in  the  school,  but  who  had 
had  no  connection  with  it  for  two-and-a-half  years. 
It  is  probable  that  the  tales  about  vicious  conduct 
in  other  high  schools  have  no  more  foundation  in 
fact  than  the  stories  concerning  the  school 
referred  to. 

Benefits  of  Co-education. —  No  reader  should 
interpret  what  is  said  above  to  mean  that  it  is  not 
necessary  for  parents  and  teachers  to  safeguard 
boys  and  girls  in  high  schools,  by  establishing  rea- 
sonable regulations  so  as  to  prevent  the  develop- 
ment of  too  great  intimacy  among  them.  But  the 
American  high  school  has  accomplished  more  than 
any  other  institution  in  the  world  in  the  way  of  de- 
veloping friendship  and  comradeship  among  boys 
and  girls.  It  has  removed  artificial  barriers  which 
in  other  countries  make  boys  and  girls  after  they 
reach  the  teens  strangers  to  each  other.  It  has 
given  the  girl  a  chance  to  play  a  part  in  the  ac- 
tivities of  the  world.  It  has  broken  down  conven- 
tional restrictions  which  have  limited  the  freedonK 
of  girls  and  of  women.  The  experience  and  train-  i 
ing  which  girls  have  received  in  co-educational 
high  schools  have  enabled  them  to  go  to  and  fro  in 
the  world  without  any  hestitation.  They  can  take 
care  of  themselves  wherever  they  are  placed.  The 
American  girl,  mainly  because  of  her  training  in 
the  public  high  school,  has  gained  resourceful- 
ness, courage  and  efficiency  in  every-day  affairs. 


WHEN  THE  TENDER  PASSION  APPEARS  113 

These  are  tremendous  advantages  and  we  must 
not  permit  anything  to  interfere  with  the  free- 
dom and  frankness  of  social  relations  of  our  high 
schools.  We  must  see  to  it  that  girls  have  even 
greater  freedom  of  action  in  the  future  than  they 
have  had  in  the  past  in  these  schools.  "We  must 
resist  any  attempt  to  segregate  boys  and  girls 
too  rigorously.  This  does  not  mean  that  they 
should  not  be  separated  in  some  classes.  It  is  de- 
sirable that  boys  and  girls  should  work  separately 
in  certain  subjects.  But  the  spirit  of  our  higk 
schools  should  be  co-educational.  Just  as  far  as 
possible,  boys  and  girls  should  develop  comrade- 
ship and  fellowship  with  each  other.  In  a  well- 
managed  high  school  sentimentality  and  amor- 
ousness will  not  become  prominent.  Boys  and 
girls  will  have  enough  work  to  do  together  so 
that  sex  feeling  will  not  be  unrestrained.  Teach- 
ers in  high  schools  are  carefully  studying 
problem  of  adjusting  the  relations  of  boys  and 
girls  so  that  they  will  feel  free  in  one  another's 
presence,  so  that  they  will  gain  an  understanding 
of  each  other,  and  so  that  they  will  learn  to  be 
together  without  undue  consciousness  of  sex  traits 
and  sex  differences. 

Should  a  Mother  Pick  Out  a  Boy's  Girl  Asso- 
ciates?— In  this  connection  the  question  of  the 
boy  and  his  girl  companions  arises.  Should  a 
mother  pick  out  a  boy's  girl  associates,  or  should 
the  boy  have  the  sole  voice  in  this  matter  himself? 


114         THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

This  question  was  recently  propounded  to  a 
group  of  thirty  women.  Most  of  them  did  not 
like  to  say  that  parents  should  choose  the  boy's 
girl  companions,  but  yet  they  thought  a  boy 
should  not  be  given  complete  freedom  to  do  this 
for  himself.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  majority  of 
the  women — not  all  of  them,  though — who  wrestled 
with  the  problem  are  in  the  habit  of  telling  their 
boys  what  girls  they  should  visit  and  which  ones 
they  should  take  to  parties. 

If  there  is  one  thing  more  than  another  that 
nature  has  implanted  deep  in  a  boy's  nature  it  is 
his  desire  to  be  with  girls  whom  he  likes.  Nature 
has  so  constructed  a  boy  that  when  he  is  required 
to  show  favors  to  a  girl  he  does  not  like  he  will 
be  in  a  rebellious  and  repugnant  attitude  all  the 
time,  whether  he  reveals  it  outwardly  or  not.  It 
would  be  just  as  profitable  for  an  adult  to  bay 
at  the  moon  as  to  try  to  develop  in  a  boy  con- 
sideration for  a  girl  whom  he  does  not  like.  This 
is  not  a  matter  that  can  be  controlled  by  advice 
or  exhortation. 

How  Guidance  Can  Be  Exercised. — At  the  same 

time  there  is  some  danger  in  permitting  the  boy 

to   find  his    own   girl   companions   without   any 

guidance  from  his  elders ;  but  there  are  different 

^ways  in  which  this  guidance  can  be  exerted.    The 

/  most  effective  way  is  for  the  parents  to  determine 

I    the  circle  of  the  boy's  girl  friends  without  letting 

him  know  what  is  going  on.    A  parent  ought  but 


WHEN  THE  TENDER  PASSION  APPEARS  115 

rarely  to  deal  directly  with  the  boy's  relations 
with  girl  associates.  But  parents  can  to  a  large 
extent  determine  the  group  of  girls  among  whom 
the  boy  will  find  his  associates.  They  cannot 
tell  him  which  one  in  the  group  to  select  for 
his  special  attention ;  nature  will  take  care  of  this. 
But  they  can  provide  for  the  boy's  needs  by  giv- 
ing him  an  opportunity  for  selection  in  a  group 
large  enough  to  include  girls  of  different  traits 
and  interests.  If  the  boy's  needs  be  thus  pro- 
vided for,  it  will  save  him  from  wandering  about 
making  promiscuous  selection. 

Interest  in  the  Opposite  Sex. —  The  writer 
knows  of  a  number  of  parents  who  are  worrying 
because  their  boys  and  girls  are  not  interested 
in  the  opposite  sex,  and  they  think  this  defect,  as 
they  regard  it,  must  be  due  to  some  deficiency  in 
the  education  of  their  children.  It  is  probably 
nothing  of  the  kind.  Nature  apparently  arranges 
it  so  that  there  will  be  a  certain  proportion  of 
boys  and  girls  who  have  no  active  feelings  with 
respect  to  the  opposite  sex — they  are  neutral  in 
this  respect.  And  if  Nature  has  not  implanted 
the  feeling,  it  certainly  can  never  be  implanted 
by  parents.  The  only  thing  parents  can  do  is 
work  sub  rosa  to  bring  boys  and  girls  together 
who  may  take  a  fancy  to  one  another  and  let 
Nature  do  the  rest. 

Interest    in    the    Opposite    Sex    Cannot    Be 
Forced. —  It  is  always  fruitless  for  parents  to  at- 


116  THE  TREND  OP  THE  TEENS 

tempt  to  coerce  their  sons  to  take  an  interest  in 
girls.  No  better  method  can  be  thought  of  to  turn 
a  boy  against  girls  permanently  than  to  talk  to 
him  about  his  duty  to  take  an  interest  in  them. 
A  boy  cannot  be  lectured  to  profitably  about  a 
matter  of  this  kind.  It  is  not  a  subject  for  dis- 
cussion at  all,  certainly  not  for  criticism,  even 
granting  that  it  is  desirable  for  all  boys  eighteen 
or  nineteen  years  old  and  beyond  to  be  interested 
:  in  girls.  It  would  be  better  anyway  for  most  boys 
not  to  become  much  concerned  about  girls  until 
j  they  approach  maturity.  It  is  highly  desirable 
yj  that  during  the  teens  boys  should  be  principally 
interested  in  accomplishing  something  worth 
while  in  science,  in  mechanics,  in  business  or  in 
some  other  serious  occupation  or  enterprise. 

The  Optimistic  Age. —  At  what  period  in  life 
does  one  attain  the  pinnacle  in  courage,  cheer- 
fulness, faith,  altruism  and  endurance?  The  girl 
reaches  it  between  sixteen  and  twenty,  and  the 
boy  between  eighteen  and  twenty-three.  This  is 
the  romantic  and  optimistic  age.  For  the  youth, 
boy  or  girl,  whose  enthusiasm  and  ideals  have 
not  been  chilled  by  sophisticated,  blase  persons 
there  is  nothing  sordid  or  commonplace  or  mean 
or  unlovely  in  human  life. 

There  are  those  who  say  to  boys  and  girls  who 
have  entered  this  period  "You're  in  the  silly  age. 
You  may  get  over  it  in  time,  though;  you'll  learn 
that  most  people  are  mean  and  despicable.  You  '11 


WHEN  THE  TENDER  PASSION  APPEARS          117 

see  that  those  whom  you  now  think  so  perfectly 
delightful  are  made  of  common  clay  and  have 

nothing  admirable  about  them."  * 

Anyone  who  seeks  in  this  way  to  destroy  the  | 
naivete,  the  confidence  and  the  idealism  of  youth 
deserves  to  be  shut  away  from  human  society. 
He  has  himself  lost  his  ideals,  probably  through 
self-indulgence,  and  he  is  not  fit  to  associate  with 
those  who  still  retain  them.  If  one  knew  the  life 
story  of  such  persons  he  would  undoubtedly  see 
that  at  some  point  in  their  career,  probably  when 
they  were  in  the  romantic  age,  their  higher  feel- 
ings were  debased  by  gratification  of  passions. 
Indulgence  in  animal  appetite  usually  results  in 
the  debasement  of  the  ideals  that  are  acquired  by 
every  normal  boy  and  girl  in  later  youth.  If 
restraint  had  been  exercised,  life  would  have  con- 
tinued to  be  romantic  and  delightful  instead  of 
gross  and  sordid,  as  it  is  sure  to  become  when  the 
pursuit  of  sensuous  pleasure  turns  the  attention  I 
and  energies  away  from  idealistic  endeavors. 

Romance  and  Chivalry  in  Later  Youth. —  One 
important  concern  of  those  who  guide  the  steps 
of  later  youth  should  be  to  preserve  romantic 
ideals.     All    students    of   the    evolution    of    the 
/human  race  know  that  these  ideals  have  played 
\Jthe  chief  role  in  the  development  of  civilization. 
Romance   encourages    restraint   of   animal   pas- 
sion, and  incites  to  high  endeavor  in  the  attain- 
ment   of   artistic   and   ethical   values.     Peoples 


118  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

whose  youth  have  little  or  no  romantic  ideals 
occupy  the  lowest  place  intellectually,  ethically 
and  morally  among  the  nations  of  the  world.  On 
the  other  hand,  those  whose  lives  are  regulated 
largely  by  ideals  which  have  their  origin  in 
youth  have  attained  the  highest  rank  in  civiliza- 
tion. One  can  grade  all  the  peoples  of  the  world 
on  the  scale  of  civilization  according  to  the  de- 
gree to  which  they  are  devoted  to  the  attainment 
of  ideals, ^having  their  origin  in  youth,  as  con- 
trasted with  mere  physical  gratification. 

At  least  three-fourths  of  all  the  controlling 
forces  of  human  life  have  relation  in  some  way 
or  another  to  sex.  In  any  individual  life  or  in 
the  life  of  a  nation  the  matter  of  chief  impor- 
tance is  to  keep  these  relations  on  a  high  roman- 
tic and  idealistic  plane,  j  A  normal,  healthy- 
minded  boy  sees  every  girl  a  queenj  if  he  can 
keep  this  view  throughout  life  he 'will  be  con- 
stantly stimulated  to  be  his  best  and  do  his  best. 
The  boy  should  have  no  experience  and  cer- 
tainly no  teaching  which  would  rob  him  of  his 
belief  that  the  girl  possesses  ideal  qualities. 

What  is  true  of  the  boy  is  equally  true  in 
principle  of  the  girl.  But  she  has  a  better 
chance  in  modern  life  to  retain  her  romantic 
ideals  than  has  the  boy  because  he  is  exposed  to 
the  teachings  of  those  who  make  money  out  of 
the  indulgence  of  his  lower  impulses.  These 
latter  individuals  seek  in  a  variety  of  ways  to 


WHEN  THE  TENDER  PASSION  APPEARS          119 

break  down  the  boy's  idealistic  conceptions  of 
the  girl,  because  then  he  will  let  himself  run 
loose  in  the  gratification  of  his  passions,  and 
those  who  fatten  on  the  indulgences  of  men  will 
profit  thereby.  Happily  the  girl  is  shielded  from 
much  of  the  suggestion  and  even  the  teaching 
which  frequently  deprives  the  boy  of  his  fine 
idealistic  feeling.  We  seem  unable  to  elmininate 
the  sordid  influences  that  play  upon  the  boy  in 
many  American  communities  to-day. 

Are  Girls  More  Refined  by  Nature  Than 
Boys? —  This  will  be  the  best  place  to  refer  to 
the  popular  belief  that  boys  are  crude  and  rather 
vulgar  by  nature.  This  tradition  has  become 
established  because  girls,  after  the  age  of  three 
or  four  at  any  rate,  seem  to  be  more  refined 
than  boys  in  speech,  in  manners  and  in  dress. 
But  the  difference  may  not  be  a  native  one;  it 
may  be  due  to  differences  in  training  and  espe- 
cially  in  environment  and  companionship.  From' 
the  age  of  three  or  four  on,  boys  are  often — in 
fact  usually — subjected  to  rough  associations 
from  which  girls  are  protected.  Boys  are  per- 
mitted to  hear  vulgar,  obscene  language  which 
girls,  speaking  generally,  never  hear.  Vulgar 
people  try  to  restrain  their  vulgarity  when  a 
girl  is  present  but  they  never  think  of  doing 
so  in  a  boy's  presence.  Even  in  public  per- 
formances, as  in  the  theater,  obscenity  will  be 
indulged  in  if  only  men  are  in  attendance, 


120  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

whereas  little  if  anything  of  the  kind  would 
occur  if  girls  or  women  were  in  attendance. 
Lewd  actions  are  exhibited  before  boys  and  men, 
while  girls  are  never  admitted  to  such  places. 
Public  sentiment  always  requires  that  the  en- 
vironment of  the  girl  be  more  wholesome  and 
refined  than  the  environment  of  the  boy.  If 
girls  are  by  nature  more  refined  than  boys  they 
should  not  need  this  protection  from  vulgar  and 
vicious  suggestion.  If  boys  are  more  suscepti- 
ble, why  are  they  not  safeguarded?  Will  some- 
one who  is  in  the  habit  of  ascribing  native  vul- 
garity to  boys  please  answer  this  question? 

Well-meaning  people  are  constantly  seeking  to 
improve  the  environment  of  girls  so  as  to  keep 
their  thoughts,  feelings  and  conduct  wholesome 
and  sweet  and  refined,  but  they  let  boys  grow  up 
under  debasing  conditions  and  then  lament  over 
the  fact  that  they  are  not  refined  and  scrupulous 
about  their  speech  and  their  actions.  Parents 
will  expend  from  five  to  ten  times  as  much 
money  in  securing  nice  clothes  for  a  daughter  as 
they  will  for  a  son,  and  then  they  wonder  why  he 
is  not  as  particular  as  she  is  about  his  appear- 
ance. The  girl  always  has  the  choicest  room  in 
the  house,  and  the  boy  must  take  what  is  left 
after  everyone  else  is  provided  for.  The  result 
of  all  this  is,  of  course,  that  the  boy  as  a  rule  is 
coarser  in  his  thought,  speech  and  action  than 
the  girl.  But  the  difference  may  not  be  due  to 


WHEN  THE  TENDER  PASSION  APPEARS  121 

heredity,  it  may  be  due  to  our  custom  of  trying 
to  keep  the  associations  of  the  girl  wholesome 
and  inspiring,  while  permitting  the  boy  to  look 
out  for  himself,  with  the  result  that  he  is  often 
constantly  subjected  to  vicious  suggestion.  The* 
wonder  is  that,  taking  boys  as  they  go,  they  are 
not  worse  than  they  are. 

•  Preparation  for  the  Great  Adventure. —  The 
most  momentous  problem  of  the  teens  relates  to 
preparation  for  marriage.  In  many  foreign 
countries  marriage  is  arranged  on  a  business  or 
on  a  political  basis  by  the  parents  or  relatives 
or  political  advisers  of  the  persons  directly  con- 
cerned. When  this  is  the  case,  the  relations  be- 
tween husband  and  wife  are  not  much  more  inti- 
mate or  enduring  than  are  the  relations  between 
partners  in  a  commercial  or  a  political  enter- 
prise. Often  it  is  not  expected  that  they  will 
remain  boon  companions  for  a  lifetime,  and 
quite  frequently  they  in  time  form  more  inti- 
mate connections  with  others  than  between  them- 
selves. It  is  thought  not  to  be  worthy  of  remark 
when  a  husband  has  closer  friendships  with  other 
women  than  he  has  with  his  wife,  and  the  same 
is  true  respecting  the  wife's  friendships  with 
other  men  than  her  husband.  In  countries  where 
marriage  is  looked  upon  in  this  way,  it  is  not 
regarded  of  great  importance  that  a  boy  or  girl 
should  make  special  preparation  for  the  duties, 
responsibilities  or  opportunities  of  married  life. 


122  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

But  in  this  country  we  take  a  very  different 
view  of  marriage.  We  do  not  intend  or  wish 
that  any  considerations  but  mutual  irresistible 
attraction  should  enter  into  the  marriage  alli- 
ance between  two  persons.  When  marriage  is 
thus  the  consummation  of  affection  between  the 
boy  and  the  girl,  it  means  that  their  influence 
upon  each  other  will  be  much  more  vital  and 
momentous  than  it  would  be  if  they  had  married 
merely  for  convenience.  They  will  see  a  great 
deal  more  of  one  another  than  married  people 
see  of  each  other  in  most  foreign  countries. 
Their  personalities  will  be  a  source  of  pleasure 
or  of  distress  to  one  another  in  a  much  higher 
degree  than  is  the  case  in  other  countries,  and 
this  makes  marriage  in  our  country  a  matter  of 
supreme  consequence  to  everyone  who  enters 
into  it.  If  in  certain  foreign  countries  married 
people  cease  to  be  interested  in  each  other,  they 
are  not  required  by  law  or  custom  to  have  much 
to  do  with  one  another.  The  husband  does  not 
feel  obligation  to  provide  for  his  wife's  well- 
being  and  comfort  and  she  is  not  expected  to 
make  his  life  agreeable.  But  with  us  a  husband 
and  wife  must  play  the  chief  part  in  determin- 
ing the  happiness  or  the  misery  of  each  other 
from  the  marriage  altar  to  the  grave. 

Fundamental  Requirements. —  One  who  will 
study  the  types  of  men  and  women  who  are 
brought  into  morals  courts  and  who  will  listen 


WHEN  THE  TENDER  PASSION  APPEARS  123 

to  their  tales  of  distress  and  woe  will  appre- 
ciate that  there  are  a  few  fundamental  require- 
ments in  order  that  the  marriage  of  two  per- 
sons may  endure  and  may  promote  the  well- 
being  and  happiness  of  both.  First  of  all,  a  man 
and  woman  must  continue  to  be  personally 
agreeable  and  attractive  to  each  other.  They 
entered  into  the  marriage  relation  in  response 
to  mutual  attraction;  and  when  this  attraction 
ceases  the  bond  which  holds  them  together  will 
be  weakened  or  broken.  When  all  romance 
passes  out  of  the  lives  of  married  people  they 
will  inevitably  tend  to  pull  apart.  Children  in 
the  family  may  hold  them  in  the  same  home,  but 
they  cannot  preserve  the  regard  and  affection 
and  intimacy  with  each  other  which  they  had 
originally. 

It  is  not  always  the  case,  but  it  is  usually  so, 
that  the  women  seen  in  morals^  courts  have  lost 
their  attractiveness.  Often  indulgence  of  appe- 
tite has  robbed  them  of  comeliness  of  form  or 
charm  of  features;  or  it  may  be  that  overwork 
or  poverty  has  taken  the  color  out  of  their  cheeks 
and  the  light  out  of  their  eyes.  Whatever  the 
cause  of  decline  in  personal  appeal  may  be,  the 
man 'who  was  once  attracted  by  and  devoted  to 
the  woman  has  lost  his  interest  because  romance 
is  gone  and  he  finds  no  other  compensating 
qualities.  There  is  neither  poise  nor  gracious- 
ness  of  manner  nor  fineness  of  mind  nor  superi- 


124  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

ority  of  character  to  replace  this  decay  in  per- 
sonal attraction.  The  boy  was  captivated  by 
purely  external  channs7~^and  when  those  dis- 
appeared or  their  superficiality  was  detected 
there  was  nothing  back  of  them  to  hold  the  man 
and  so  he  began  to  pull  away.  He  no  longer  felt 
an  interest  in  contributing  to  the  woman's  wel- 
fare and  comfort.  If  he  could  not  get  free  and 
wander  wherever  he  wished,  he  would  express 
his  growing  indifference  or  positive  dislike  in  a 
violent  way.  Almost  any  day  in  a  morals  court 
one  can  observe  cases  of  this  sort. 

The  situation  is  about  the  same  with  respect  to 
the  defects  and  deficiencies  of  the  husband.  He 
won  the  girl  because  of  his  devotion,  unselfish- 
ness and  manliness.  But  having  her  securely  in 
his  possession,  his  devotion  cools,  his  inherent 
selfishness  is  manifested,  and  he  develops  into  a 
self-indulgent,  coarse  and  animalistic  creature. 
His  attractive  qualities  were  wholly  on  the  sur- 
face and  were  exhibited  merely  for  the  purpose 
of  capturing  a  mate,  and  when  he  had  accom- 
plished his  purpose  there  was  nothing  deeper  in 
him  which  could  continue  to  hold  the  affection 
and  admiration  of  the  girl  who  had  over-esti- 
mated his  qualities.  His  coarseness  and  selfish- 
ness repel  her  and  she  reaches  the  stage  where 
she  cannot  endure  him.  His  type  can  be  fre- 
quently seen  either  in  divorce  courts  or  in  morals 
courts. 


WHEN  THE  TENDER  PASSION  APPEARS          125 

It  is  not  necessary  that  one  should  risit  these 
unsavory  courts  in  order  to  observe  the  traits 
and  types  which  have  been  described.  He  can 
see  them  frequently  in  daily  life  among  the  mar- 
ried people  whom  he  knows.  The  cases  are  not 
as  extreme  as  those  that  find  their  way  to  the 
courts,  but  they  are  serious  enough  to  cause 
more  or  less  conflict  between  married  people  and 
to  render  their  own  lives  and  the  lives  of  all 
connected  with  them  unhappy. 

Good  Comradeship  Essential. —  In  order  thai-, 
the  happiness  of  a  boy  and  girl  on  their  marriage 
day  should  be  enduring  they  must  continue  to  be 
good  comrades  with  one  another.  Any  training 
which  will  fit  a  boy  and  a  girl  to  be  lasting  com- 
panions will  be  a  good  preparation  for  a  happy 
married  life.  This  means  that  they  must  acquire 
self-control,  poise,  cheerfulness  and  resourceful- 
ness. Two  persons  cannot  remain  comrades 
very  long  unless  they  both  have  intelligence  and 
depth  of  character  and  richness  of  feeling.  The 
minute  we  exhaust  the  intellectual  or  emotional 
resources  of  a  companion  we  begin  to  lose  our 
regard  for  him;  he  cannot  continue  to  interest 
us  unless  he  has  possibilities  of  instructing  or 
entertaining  us  or  helping  us  to  solve  the  prob- 
lems which  confront  us,  or  unless  we  continue  to 
admire  the  way  in  which  he  carries  himself  as  he 
goes  through  life  meeting  all  kinds  of  situations. 
This  matter  is  of  first  importance  in  relation 


126         THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

to  continued  friendship  between  married  people. 
The  Better  the  Education  the  Happier  the 
Married  Life. —  The  better  educated  a  boy  and 
a  girl  are  the  better  chance  they  stand  of  living 
a  happy  married  life  together;  this  principle  is 
illustrated  in  divorce  and  moral  courts  every 
day.  Some  readers  will  be  inclined  to  doubt  that 
the  more  one  is  educated  the  better  companion 
he  will  make  in  married  life.  But  this  doubt 
arises  from  the  fact  that  many  persons  think  of 
education  as  consisting  of  learning  in  grammar 
and  algebra  and  Latin  and  the  like.  But  while 
knowledge  of  this  sort  may  constitute  a  pact  of 
education,  it  is  a  very  small  part.  Education  in 
a  true  sense  means  an  understanding  of  human 
nature  primarily — how  men  have  lived,  what 
they  have  thought,  what  their  ideals  have  been, 
how  they  have  struggled  to  surmount  the  ob- 
stacles in  their  path,  how  the  mind  of  man  has 
discovered  the  secrets  of  nature,  how  he  has  util- 
ized the  forces  of  nature  to  win  subsistence  and 
leisure  for  himself.  All  these  matters  are  to- 
day taught  in  history  and  literature  and  art  and 
music  and  every  branch  of  science  and  engineering 
and  household  economics.  The  more  knowledge  of 
this  character  one  has  the  greater  poise  he  will 
have,  the  better  he  will  understand  the  situations 
that  arise  in  married  life,  the  more  interesting 
he  will  be  to  his  most  intimate  companion,  and 
the  better  able  he  will  be  to  interpret  life  as  they 


WHEN  THE  TENDER  PASSION  APPEARS  127 

go  along  together.  The  less  equipment  he  has 
in  knowledge  of  this  kind,  the  poorer  comrade 
he  will  make,  the  sooner  his  resources  will  be 
exhausted,  and  he  will  cease  to  be  an  inspira- 
tion or  a  comfort  in  his  household.  If  one  were 
setting  out  deliberately  to  prepare  for  marriage, 
then,  he  should  first  get  as  much  real,  vital  knowl- 
edge relating  to  humanity  and  nature  as  he  could 
acquire  without  neglecting  other  interests  or  doing 
violence  to  health. 

Health  Is  a  Fundamental  Requisite. —  And 
speaking  of  health  suggests  that  an  essential  re- 
quisite for  enduring  companionship  in  marriage 
is  physical  and  mental  health.  A  boy  is  never 
attracted  by  a  girl  because  she  is  an  invalid  nor 
is  the  girl  attracted  by  the  boy  for  this  reason. 
There  is  no  romance  in  invalidism.  When  in- 
firmities of  body  or  mind  develop  after  marriage 
the  bond  of  attraction  will  be  broken  in  a  great 
majority  of  cases.  This  will  sound  harsh  to 
some  readers;  but  again  this  is  a  biological  law 
which  must  be  taken  account  of  in  the  marriage 
relation.  It  is  not  only  that  one  who  is  physically 
or  mentally  incapacitated  must  cease  to  play  a 
part  as  a  resourceful  and  well-poised  and  sympa- 
thetic and  cheerful  companion;  but  the  invalid 
or  semi-invalid  becomes  a  charge  upon  the  at- 
terftion  and  energy  of  the  mate.  The  invalid 
misinterprets  what  others  do,  becomes  narrow- 
minded  and  self-centered  and  estimates  every- 


128          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

thing  from  an  egoistic  and  selfish  standpoint. 
Irascibility  takes  the  place  of  self-restraint  and 
good  nature  and  lasting  intimate  comradeship 
will  be  impossible  under  these  conditions,  even 
though  complete  dissolution  of  the  marriage 
relation  may  be  avoided  for  the  sake  of  children 
or  for  social  or  business  reasons. 

So  every  boy  and  girl  in  the  grammar  school, 
the  continuation  school  and  the  high  school 
should  be  required  to  study  practical  problems 
pertaining  to  the  preservation  of  health.  They 
should  learn  thoroughly  how  the  various  factors 
and  experiences  of  every-day  life  influence 
bodily  and  mental  poise,  vigor  and  stability.  A 
large  proportion  of  boys  and  girls  who  contract 
marriage  these  days  are  densely  ignorant  on  this 
subject,  and  they  suffer  personally  and  in  their 
marriage  relations  in  consequence  of  their  ignor- 
ance. Even  if  they  should  remain  single  they 
will  need  to  understand  how  to  do  the  work  of 
life  without  waste  of  vitality  and  unnecessary 
wear  and  tear. 

Diet  and  Temper. —  There  is  a  special  phase 
of  the  matter  of  health  which  is  of  particular 
importance  in  married  life.  This  concerns  the 
intimate  connection  between  one's  diet  and  his 
temper.  Certain  foods  and  methods  of  prepar- 
ing them  tend  to  produce  irascibility.  Not  infre- 
quently the  beginnings  of  conflict  in  the  newly- 
established  household  arise  as  soon  as  the  re- 


WHEN  THE  TENDER  PASSION  APPEARS          129 

sponsibility  falls  upon  the  young  wife  to  pur- 
chase and  prepare  food.  She  may  know  next 
to  nothing  about  the  foods  that  are  best  suited 
to  her  own  needs  and  those  of  her  husband; 
and  such  foods  as  she  chooses  she  may  prepare 
so  that  it  is  well-nigh  impossible  to  secure  the 
nourishment  which  they  contain.  To  counteract 
the  dissatisfaction  which  her  food  gives,  she  is 
apt  to  resort  to  stimulants  like  tea  and  coffee 
and  condiments  which  for  the  moment  mitigate 
the  evil  consequences  of  inappropriate  food  and 
bad  cookery,  but  which  in  the  end  produce  un- 
stable nervous  conditions. 

One  can  see  young  people  starting  out  in  mar-" 
ried  life  who  are  cultivating  nasty  tempers 
through  the  use  of  improper  food  and  beverages. 
So  it  is  within  reason  to  say  that  a  girl  who  sets 
up  in  housekeeping  and  depends  upon  luck  in  the 
choice  and  preparation  of  food  stands  a  good 
chance  of  arriving  at  an  unhappy  end.  Perhaps 
the  time  will  come  when  we  will  make  rules  and 
regulations  which  will  prevent  a  girl  from  as- 
suming the  responsibilities  of  married  life  until  i 
she  shall  have  learned  the  relation  of  tempera- 
ment to  nutrition,  and  shall  have  acquired  scien-  I 
tific  knowledge  relating  to  the  choice  and  prep- 
aration of  food  to  meet  the  requirements  of  her- 
self and  her  companion,  and  children  when  they 
arrive,  in  the  special  circumstances  in  which 
they  are  placed.  We  will  not  allow  a  teacher  or 


130  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

a  physician  or  a  barber  or  a  dentist  or  a  plumber 
to  practice  until  he  has  gained  scientific  knowl- 
edge relating  to  his  special  business,  and  why 
should  we  permit  people  to  undertake  the  most 
complicated  and  important  duties  in  life  without 
any  special  study  of  the  problems  that  will  be 
encountered? 

Economic  Strain  and  Stress. — On  the  man's 
side,  there  is,  of  course,  the  necessity  of  being 
prepared  to  provide  the  food  for  the  household. 
It  is  an  old  story — this  wrecking  of  households 
almost  at  the  start  because  of  economic  strain 
and  stress.  A  man  is  allowed  to  enter  into  mar- 
riage before  he  is  capable  of  maintaining  a  house- 
hold. He  can  not  do  anything  well  which  society 
wants  to  have  done,  and  he  takes  a  chance  of 
being  able  to  earn  an  occasional  dollar.  When 
he  had  no  one  but  himself  to  provide  for  he 
might  well  take  the  chance,  but  it  is  disastrous 
when  he  has  another  who  is  dependent  upon  him. 
!  The  moral  is  that  if  we  could  do  so  we  should 
I  prevent  any  man  from  contracting  marriage  who 
had  not  fitted  himself  to  do  some  work  up  to 
such  a  standard  that  he  would  be  reasonably 
sure  of  his  services  being  in  demand.  No  matter 
what  preparation  may  be  made  in  other  ways 
to  meet  the  responsibilities  of  marriage,  if  a 
man  is  unable  to  earn  a  decent  livelihood  for  his 
wife  and  himself  and  children  his  household  will 
go  to  pieces  sooner  or  later;  or  if  it  hangs  to- 


WHEN  THE  TENDER  PASSION  APPEARS  131 

gether  for  appearance's  sake  it  will  at  least  be 
extremely  unhappy. 

No  matter  how  confidently  and  idealistically 
two  persons  may  start  out  in  married  life,  it  is 
certain  that  problems  of  adjusting  outlay  to  in- 
come will  very  soon  arise  and  it  will  be  neces-  I 
sary  to  solve  them  satisfactorily  if  misunder-  \ 
standing  and  strain  and  stress  are  to  be  avoided. 
In  present-day  American  life  there  are  so  many 
temptations  to  expend  one's  resources  that  it 
must  be  very  definitely  understood  how  far  the 
wife  and  the  husband  may  safely  go  in  their  ex- 
penditures for  various  purposes.  This  means 
that  at  the  start  they  must  work  out  a  program 
of  expenses  based  upon  income;  that  is  to  say, 
they  must  plan  their  expenditures  according  to 
a  budget.  It  is  very  doubtful  if  two  persons  can 
start  out  in  life  and  not  come  to  grief  sooner  or 
later  unless  they  adopt  something  like  a  budget 
system.  But  those  who  until  their  marriage  day 
have  gone  on  the  hit-and-miss  plan,  have  ex- 
tracted what  they  could  from  parents  or  others 
and  expended  it  without  much  consideration  of 
their  total  needs,  will  have  difficulty  in  confining 
their  expenditures  to  budget  allowances.  They 
should  have  experience  in  budget  planning  long 
before  they  arrive  at  the  marriage  day.  Every 
boy  and  girl  in  the  teens  should  learn  to  expend 
according  to  a  budget.  Boys  and  girls  who  have 
been  trained  in  this  way  before  their  marriage 


132  THE  TREND  OP  THE  TEENS 

will  save  themselves  much  trouble  and  conflict 
and  distress  after  marriage. 

Apart  from  its  value  in  preparation  for  mar- 
riage, it  affords  excellent  discipline  for  young 
persons  to  learn  that  they  must  adjust  their 
outgo  in  any  particular  direction  to  the  amount 
which  is  provided  to  meet  this  outlay,  and  under 
no  circumstances  can  they  go  beyond  it.  Their 
anticipations  and  desires  must  be  regulated  in 
view  of  this.  Those  who  do  not  learn  this  les- 
son before  they  enter  into  marriage  learn  it  with 
great  difficulty  afterward  and  some  of  them 
never  learn  it;  and  in  such  cases  from  the  start 
to  the  finish  of  married  life  there  is  dissatisfac- 
tion and  strain  and  stress  and  continual  effort  to 
secure  more  for  this  or  for  that  purpose  than 
the  income  of  the  household  will  allow  or  than 
the  one  who  provides  the  funds  is  willing  to 
allow. 

When  a  household  is  not  run  on  a  budget  plan, 
the  breadwinner  is  very  apt  to  assume  a  nega- 
tive attitude  toward  all  requests  for  money.  He 
feels  that  he  must  always  be  on  the  defensive, 
and  he  makes  life  unbearable  for  everyone  in  the 
household.  What  he  should  do  for  the  peace  of 
mind  of  himself  and  of  his  wife  and  children  is 
to  determine  in  what  ways  his  income  can  be 
expended  to  greatest  advantage,  and  then  he 
should  regularly  set  aside  the  sums  agreed  upon 
for  each  purpose,  and  he  should  permit  his  wife 


WHEN  THE  TENDER  PASSION  APPEARS          133 

to  expend  the  sums  relating  to  the  maintenance 
of  the  household  without  begging  him  for  money. 
There  can  never  be  peace  and  good-will  and 
happiness  in  a  household  when  the  wife  has  to 
play  the  role  of  beggar  and  never  knows  what 
she  can  depend  upon  to  meet  the  operating  ex- 
penses of  the  family.  There  is  no  business  of 
any  kind  that  could  be  conducted  successfully  or 
comfortably  on  such  a  plan. 

Mutual  Understanding  and  Appreciation. — 
One  potent  cause  of  misunderstanding  and  dis- 
harmony in  newly-established  homes  is  that  hus- 
band and  wife  do  not  have  an  appreciation  of 
the  duties  and  responsibilities  which  each  has^ 
to  assume.  A  boy  in  the  typical  American  home 
receives  little  or  no  training  which  prepares  him 
to  understand  the  detailed  responsibilities  in- 
volved in  homemaking.  During  childhood  and 
youth  his  needs  are  attended  to  often  without 
his  knowing  who  attends  to  them.  He  gains  no 
adequate  conception  of  the  care,  thoughtfulness 
and  industry  which  are  required  to  make  life 
comfortable  for  him.  The  typical  American  boy 
treats  the  people  in  his  home  who  look  after  his 
welfare  as  though  their  tasks  were  simple  and 
require  little  thought  or  sacrifice.  He  often  car- 
ries this  view  with  him  when  he  establishes  his 
own  home,  and  instead  of  being  sympathetic  and 
helpful  toward  the  one  who  is  trying  to  make  the 
home  attractive,  he  is  critical  and  fault-finding 


134  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

and  so  lie  adds  to  instead  of  lightens  her  burdens. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  typical  American  girl 
does  not  appreciate  what  is  required  in  order  to 
supply  her  wants.  The  money  comes  from 
somewhere,  but  she  does  not  see  anyone  who  is 
struggling  day  in  and  day  out  to  earn  it.  So 
far  as  she  knows,  it  drops  from  heaven;  and  then 
when  she  goes  into  a  home  of  her  own,  she  can- 
not understand  why  funds  are  not  supplied  as 
she  needs  them  and  why  when  the  man  comes  in 
at  night  he  should  not  assume  the  duties  of  the 
household  because  he  has  been  out  enjoying  him- 
self all  day.  The  majority  of  women  do  not  ap- 
preciate that  it  requires  incessant  strain  and 
stress  and  struggle  to  win  bread  for  the  house- 
hold. This  misunderstanding  on  both  sides  could 
be  largely  avoided  if  boys  were  made  acquainted 
with  some  of  the  detailed  problems,  responsibili- 
ties and  cares  of  one  who  manages  a  household, 
and  if  a  girl  were  made  acquainted  with  the  com- 
bat and  struggle  and  endeavor  which  every  man 
must  undergo  incessantly  in  modern  American 
life  if  he  makes  a  decent  living  for  those  who  are 
dependent  upon  him.  Every  boy  and  girl  should 
have  an  introduction  to  these  problems  in  the 
continuation  school,  high  school  or  college,  but 
they  must  carry  on  their  studies  after  they  have 
entered  into  the  marriage  relation.  In  no  other 
way  can  mutual  understanding  and  helpfulness 
be  secured. 


WHEN  THE  TENDER  PASSION  APPEARS  135 

Talk  About  Duties  and  Burdens  Can  be  Over- 
done. —  It  is  possible,  of  course,  to  put  too  much 
stress  on  talk  relating  to  the  responsibilities, 
duties  and  burdens  of  the  homemaker  and  the 
breadwinner.  Frequently  in  homes,  especially  in 
the  country,  the  principal  topic  of  conversation 
is  drudgery.  The  woman  and  the  man  both 
think  of  nothing  and  talk  of  nothing  but  how 
hard  they  work  and  how  little  joy  they  get  in 
life.  They  aim  to  make  martyrs  of  themselves, 
and  they  take  the  joy  out  of  life.  One  cannot 
be  comfortable  in  the  company  of  a  person  who 
is  incessantly  complaining  of  his  hard  lot  and 
seeking  to  awaken  sympathy  for  himself.  When 
the  atmosphere  of  a  home  is  colored  by  the  ever- 
present  thought  and  talk  of  work  and  struggle 
and  drudgery,  there  can  be  but  little  good-will 
or  harmony  between  husband  and  wife.  A 
woman  cannot  continue  to  take  delight  in  the 
comradeship  of  a  man  just  because  he  is  a  hard 
worker,  and  it  is  equally  true  the  other  way 
'round.  Young  people  starting  out  in  married 
life  should  be  made  to  realize  that  each  must  do 
his  work  whatever  it  may  be  without  burdening 
the  other  with  it  and  fearing  that  he  will  not  be 
appreciated  unless  he  incessantly  complains  of 
how  much  he  has  to  do.  The  home  fireside  should 
be  a  place  of.  relaxation  and  good  cheer,  and  nar- 
ration of  the  struggles  of  the  day  should  be 
taboo. 


136  THE  TREND  OP  THE  TEENS 

The  Treatment  of  Children  a  Source  of  Con- 
flict.—  The  chief  cause  of  conflict  in  nine  out  of 
ten  homes  concerns  the  treatment  of  children. 
Often  mothers  think  the  fathers  of  their  children 
are  too  harsh  or  too  lenient  with  them  or  set  them 
bad  examples  in  one  way  or  another.  Just  as 
frequently  fathers  think  that  the  mothers  do  not 
train  them  wisely.  When  children  reach  the  teens 
one  parent  often  ascribes  their  shortcomings  to 
the  mistakes  of  the  other  parent,  and  when  this 
is  the  case  there  can  be  no  peace  or  harmony  or 
good-will  in  a  household.  It  not  only  entails  un- 
happiness  for  the  parents,  but  more  serious  still 
it  results  inevitably  that  unwholesome  influences 
will  play  upon  the  young. 

When  parents  have  nothing  but  their  intuition 
to  guide  them  in  dealing  with  their  children  they 
are  almost  certain  to  differ  in  their  views  of  the 
proper  course  to  be  followed  in  general  as  well 
as  in  specific  situations.  One  parent  may  think 
a  child  should  never  be  whipped,  while  the  other 
may  take  a  directly  contrary  view.  The  judg- 
ment of  both  is  based  on  instinct  and  tempera- 
mental peculiarities.  Neither  has  any  under- 
standing of  the  nature  of  childhood  or  youth 
and  the  effects  of  different  methods  of  training 
upon  the  intellect  and  character  of  the  young.  It 
would  be  possible  to  avoid  much  of  the  strain 
and  stress  which  one  sees  in  many  households  if 
the  parents  had  made  a  study  of  child  nature  and 


WHEN  THE  TENDER  PASSION  APPEARS  137 

means  and  methods  of  training  in  the  home.  If 
a  man  had  gained  a  little  accurate  knowledge  re- 
garding the  normal  impulses  of  childhood  he 
would  not  think  that  the  mischievous  tendencies 
of  his  children  were  due  to  wrong  training  by 
the  mother.  Instead  of  criticising  the  mother  or 
being  impatient  with  the  children,  he  would 
strive  to  provide  facilities  for  the  latter  to  em- 
ploy their  energies  in  legitimate  ways. 

Training  in  Continuation  Schools. — In  most  of 
the  states  continuation  schools  are  being  estab- 
lished for  pupils  who  complete  the  elementary 
school  but  who  cannot  go  through  a  high  school^ 
Boys  and  girls  are  required  to  maintain  connec- 
tion with  schools  until  they  are  sixteen  and  in  some 
cases  until  they  are  eighteen.  The  time  will  come 
when  every  boy  and  girl  will  have  in  a  continua- 
tion school  or  a  high  school  or  a  college  some  in- 
struction relating  to  the  natural  traits  of  childhood 
and  youth  and  means  and  methods  of  dealing  with 
them  under  the  conditions  of  contemporary  life. 
Children  make  as  interesting  and  important  ob- 
jects for  study  as  plants  or  animals  or  rocks  or 
stars  or  cube-root  or  algebra  or  spelling  or  gram- 
mar. In  the  schools  we  can  introduce  boys  and 
girls  to  the  problems  of  child-life  and  child-train- 
ing and  then  we  must  continue  their  education 
after  they  have  assumed  the  duties  of  parent- 
hood. Mrs.  Cora  Wilson  Stewart  in  Kentucky 
has  shown  that  it  is  feasible  to  keep  all  the  peo- 


138  THE  TREND  OP  THE  TEENS 

pie  in  school,  even  elderly  people,  if  we  will  teach 
them  what  they  need  to  know  at  the  time. 

Special  histruction  Relating  to  Married  Life. 
— Finally,  a  word  should  be  said  regarding  in- 
struction pertaining  directly  and  especially  to 
the  special  problems  of  married  life.  One  hears 
it  said  to-day  that  a  mother  should  instruct  her 
daughter  and  a  father  his  son  regarding  the  mys- 
teries of  life.  There  is  a  widespread  belief  that 
without  such  instruction  a  boy  and  a  girl  cannot 
understand  themselves  and  cannot  wisely  meet 
the  changes  in  sex-feeling  that  occur  during  the 
teens.  But  one  rarely  hears  it  said  that  a  young 
man  and  a  young  woman  should  receive  instruc- 
tion regarding  the  nature  and  desires  of  each 
*  other.  Suggested  talks  and  even  courses  of  in- 
struction on  sex-hygiene  rarely  if  ever  include 
anything  that  would  enable  the  young  man  and 
the  young  woman  to  understand  each  other's 
feelings  and  point  of  view  regarding  the  intimate 
experiences  of  life.  The  knowledge  a  young  man 
picks  up  on  the  street  or  even  at  his  club  usually 
gives  an  erroneous  notion  regarding  the  girl's 
acquaintance  with  and  attitude  toward  sex  rela- 
tions. The  burlesque  and  gaiety  theatre  and  even 
the  vaudeville  pervert  the  typical  man's  mind  re- 
garding the  girl's  sophistication  in  respect  to 
these  matters,  so  that  he  treats  his  girl  friends  as 
though  they  were  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of 
sex-life,  and  this  is  unquestionably  the  cause  of 


WHEN  THE  TENDER  PASSION  APPEARS  139 

much  of  the  unhappiness  arising  from  the  attempt 
of  young  men  and  young  women  to  adjust  their 
conduct  in  harmony  with  one  another's  experi- 
ence and  wishes. 

Why  should  not  the  mother  tell  her  son  what 
the  girl  who  is  to  be  his  wife  knows  about  the  new 
experiences  that  await  her  and  what  are  her 
ideals  and  feelings  in  respect  to  sex  relations? 
Why  does  a  mother  not  try  to  develop  in  her  son 
a  sensitiveness  toward  and  regard  for  his  bride's 
views  and  wishes  ?  Why  does  she  not  endeavor  to 
counteract  the  corrupting  influences  of  the  sordid 
information  which  the  young  man  who  is  familiar 
with  the  ways  of  the  world  cannot  help  but  learn 
from  one  source  or  another?  Why  does  a  mother 
who  remembers  her  own  experiences  let  her  son 
go  on  into  marriage  and  not  try  to  save  him 
from  the  consequences  of  misinformation  which 
the  worldly-educated  person  is  apt  to  acquire? 

There  is  advice  which  the  father,  too,  could  give 
his  daughter.  He  knows  the  nature  and  views  of 
the  young  man,  and  what  the  world  has  taught 
him  that  has  given  him  a  wrong  conception  of 
the  girl.  If  the  girl  came  to  the  new  relations  of 
married  life  forewarned,  she  would  be  the  better 
able  to  meet  the  new  situations  without  crises  and 
especially  without  the  destruction  of  the  ideals 
which  must  be  retained  if  life  is  to  preserve  any 
of  its  earlier  sweetness  and  joy.  Young  men  and 
young  women  are  entitled  to  receive  advice  from 


140          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

parents  or  teachers  which  will  enable  them  to  un- 
derstand and  appreciate  one  another  in  the  most 
intimate  relations  of  life. 


CHAPTER  V 
DISTEACTIONS  IN  AMERICAN  LIFE 

The  High  Cost  of  Simplicity  in  Education. — 
It  would  be  an  instructive  experience  for  any  per- 
son who  is  interested  in  education  during  the 
teens  to  spend  a  few  days  in  a  large  public  school 
anywhere  in  this  country,  and  then  pay  a  visit  to 
Groton,  Saint  Mark's,  Saint  Paul's,  Phillips  An- 
dover,  or  any  of  the  schools  of  which  these  are 
types.  He  would  find  that  a  boy  cannot  enter  the 
latter  schools  unless  his  parents  are  able  to  pay 
a  large  fee.  If  he  should  examine  the  roster  of 
pupils  he  would  note  that  many  of  the  families 
of  great  wealth,  from  Boston  to  San  Francisco, 
are  represented  by  pupils  in  one  or  another  of 
these  schools.  The  visitor  would  expect  in  the 
circumstances  that  the  boys  in  these  schools 
would  live  a  luxurious  and  indolent  life,  sur- 
rounded with  rich  furniture,  and  provided  with 
all  the  requisites  for  comfort  and  bodily  pleas- 
ure. But  the  situation  is  quite  different.  The 
boys  in  these  preparatory  schools  are  dressed 
more  plainly  and  simply  than  are  the  boys  in  the 
public  high  schools  in  almost  any  section  of  the 

141 


142  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

country.  In  some  of  the  schools,  as  in  Saint 
Paul's  and  Groton,  boys  are  not  permitted  to 
wear  expensive  clothing,  and  at  least  the  younger 
boys  are  limited  to  one  suit  for  Sunday  and  a 
plain  suit  for  week  days.  But  in  the  public  high 
schools,  where  there  is  competition  for  social 
superiority,  one  may  find  boys  who  affect  extremes 
of  dress  and  fashion,  even  when  they  come  from 
homes  with  limited  means. 

The  public  school  has  not  yet  been  able  to  solve 
the  problem  of  protecting  its  students  from  the 
fashions  and  distractions  of  outside  life.  There 
are  probably  very  few  high-school  faculties  in 
the  country  which  would  not,  if  they  could,  pre- 
serve simplicity  in  dress  as  well  as  in  the  man- 
ner of  living  among  their  pupils;  but  the  seduc- 
tions of  the  world  make  such  a  strong  appeal  to 
pupils  that  the  ideals  of  simple  living,  with  ap- 
plication to  intellectual  work,  can  hardly  be  main- 
tained. In  some  of  the  public  high  schools,  the 
boys,  as  well  as  the  girls,  early  split  into  cliques 
-on  the  basis  of  dress ;  but  such  a  thing  is  impos- 
sible in  Groton  or  Saint  Paul's  or  any  of  the 
other  schools  of  this  kind.  These  schools  have 
succeeded  in  preserving  a  period  in  a  boy's  life 
in  which  the  artificial  claims  to  social  superiority 
are  held  in  check.  The  boy  who  gets  ahead  in  one 
of  these  schools,  speaking  generally,  is  the  clev- 
erest boy,  the  best  scholar,  the  best  athlete,  the 
one  who  will  play  fairest  and  who  is  a  leader. 


DISTRACTIONS  IN  AMERICAN  LIFE  143 

That  is  to  say,  the  real  genuine  qualities  get  a 
chance  to  flourish  when  attention  is  not  dis- 
tracted by  the  social  activities  and  ambitions  of 
the  world. 

The  boys  in  the  Saint  Paul's  and  Saint  Mark's 
type  of  school  are  required  to  live  the  simple  life 
not  only  in  the  matter  of  dress,  but  in  every  other 
way.  In  the  lower  forms,  a  number  of  boys  sleep 
in  the  same  room.  Each  has  a  small  cubicle  to 
himself.  This  is  furnished  in  the  greatest  sim- 
plicity— a  cot,  one  picture,  a  small  rug,  a  chair, 
a  shelf  or  two  for  toilet  articles,  and  a  couple  of 
hooks  for  the  suit  that  is  not  being  worn.  But 
go  into  the  sleeping  room  of  the  typical  puljic 
high-school  boy,  and  note  the  comparative  luxury 
of  furnishing  and  the  extreme  and  eccentric 
decoration.  /  The  parents  of  this  high-school  boy 
could  not  "bear"  to  have  him  live  in  such  Spar- 
tan simplicity  as  is  required  of  the  Hotchkiss  or 
Saint  Mark's  or  Saint  Paul's  boy.  If  one  will 
ask  the  parents  why  it  is  necessary  that  their 
boy  should  be  surrounded  with  so  many  things, 
all  of  which  are  more  or  less  distracting  from 
intellectual  and  physical  pursuits,  he  will  be  told 
that  boys  ought  to  have  comforts,  and  ought  to 
have  an  opportunity  to  enjoy  themselves  accord- 
ing to  their  desires.  Further,  a  mother  who 
hasn't  wealth  would  often  not  like  to  acknowledge 
to  her  neighbors  that  there  were  only  the  bare 
necessities  in  her  boy's  room.  The  parent  imagines 


144  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

that  it  helps  the  family  to  climb  up  the  social  lad- 
der, or  to  hang  on  to  the  position  which  has  been 
gained,  if  there  is  a  superabundance  of  articles  in 
every  corner  of  the  house.  Many  people  think 
that  simplicity  indicates  poverty  and  social  in- 
feriority. 

Distraction  from  Intellectual  Tasks. —  This 
matter  might  not  be  of  particular  importance  if 
it  were  not  that  there  is  a  struggle  going  on  in 
high  schools  in  this  country  to  preserve  an  in- 
terest on  the  part  of  pupils  in  tlie  things  that  are 
really  of  consequence.  The  world  invites  pupils 
to  spend  their  time  in  parties  and  dancing  and 
social  dissipation.  As  a  consequence,  Latin, 
geometry,  history  and  similar  studies  lose  their 
hold  upon  pupils.  A  boy  who  is  not  strongly 
appealed  to  in  other  ways  would  be  likely  to  take 
an  interest  in  the  subjects  taught  in  a  modern 
high  school.  Ordinarily  they  are  presented  in  a 
concrete  and  attractive  manner.  Allowing  for 
exceptions,  teachers  are  studying  ways  and  means 
to  make  what  they  teach  concrete,  vital,  and  even 
entertaining  in  some  instances ;  but  even  so,  it  is 
becoming  increasingly  difficult  to  hold  the  atten- 
tion of  pupils  and  induce  them  to  apply  them- 
selves enthusiastically  and  continuously  to  their 
tasks. 

The  writer  has  heard  many  parents  express 
regret  that  their  boys  do  not  take  the  interest  in 
their  school  work  which  they  did  themselves. 


DISTRACTIONS  IN  AMERICAN  LIFE  145 

Such  parents  are  often  inclined  to  criticise  the 
school  for  the  pupil's  indifference  or  even  hos- 
tility to  his  studies.  But  the  real  fault  lies  in  the 
inability  of  the  typical  home  or  typical  com- 
munity to  preserve  simple  interests  on  the  part 
of  the  young.  When  a  boy  spends  a  night  or  two""1 
a  week  at  a  moving  picture  theatre  and  at  least 
one  night  a  week  at  a  dance;  when  he  passes  a 
couple  of  hours  a  day  in  an  automobile  and  even 
goes  to  his  school  in  one;  when  he  hears  people 
talking  everlastingly  about  clothes  and  entertain- 
ment; when  he  is  always  either  planning  to  at- 
tend a  party  in  some  one  else's  house  or  to  give 
one  in  his  own  home — under  such  conditions  it  is 
practically  impossible  for  any  school  to  arouse 
the  boy's  enthusiasm  for  and  hold  his  continued) 
attention  to  his  intellectual  tasks.  M 

So  the  boy  of  wealth  in  the  school  conducted  in 
the  spirit  of  simplicity  has  an  advantage  over  the 
boy  who  is  incessantly  appealed  to  by  the  mere- 
tricious values  of  the  world — meretricious  so  far 
as  he  is  concerned.  He  is  over-stimulated  by  all 
these  activities  that  are  the  outgrowth  of  adults 
seeking  to  secure  stimulation  and  physical  ex- 
hilaration and  pleasure.  Nature  never  intended 
that  a  youth  should  come  under  such  influences; 
but  American  life  is  so  organized  that  young 
people  take  up  these  adult  activities  and  carry 
them  to  the  limit.  Any  one  who  sees  much  of 
boys  in  a  college  or  university  knows  that  some 


146  THE  TREND  OF  THEflTEEN 


of  them  are  blase  when  they  enter  the  freshman 
class.  The  older  the  community  in  which  the  col- 
lege is  located  the  larger  the  proportion  of  such 
students.  They  have  gone  the  pace  in  the  high 
school.  They  have  experienced  all  the  stimula- 
tion of  all  the  devices  developed  in  modern 
American  life  to  excite  and  indulge  passion. 
'  The  solution  of  the  problem  lies  in  the  direc- 
tion of  community  cooperation  in  maintaining 
simplicity  during  the  period  of  youth.  The  com- 
munity should  join  with  the  school  to  make  the 
things  for  which  the  school  stands  supreme  in  the 
life  of  young  people.  The  school  cannot  do  it 
alone,  for  the  reason  that  it  does  not  have  the  in- 
dividual for  longer  than  five  or  at  the  most  six 
hours  a  day.  For  the  rest  of  his  waking  life,  the 
home  and  the  street  have  him  and  make  their  im- 
press upon  him.  The  home  and  the  school  should 
unite  their  forces  to  keep  the  life  of  the  youth 
simple,  so  that  he  may  develop  his  body  through 
wholesome  games  and  plays,  not  in  the  dance  hall 
or  the  theatre,  but  on  the  playground,  away  from 
the  institutions  that  excite  and  overstimulate 
him ;  and  so  that  he  may  develop  his  -mind  by 
application  to  the  studies  that  sum  up  the  wis- 
dom of  the  race  in  regard  to  the  art  of  living. 

Youth  and  the  Moving  Picture  Theatre. — :A 
particular  word  should  be  said  regarding  the  in- 
fluence of  moving  pictures  upon  youth.  Why  do 
the  "movies"  make  such  a  strong  appeal  to 


DISTRACTIONS  IN  AMERICAN  LIFE  147 

youth?  Mainly  because  they  indulge  the  passion 
for  stirring,  exciting,  daring,  hazardous  adven- 
ture, and  also  because  they  frequently  minister 
to  the  love  of  the  comic  which  is  strong  in  every 
normal  individual.  Further,  they  often  fascinate 
youth  through  presenting  scenes  that  are  grue- 
some and  fearful.  Last  but  not  least,  they  usually 
portray  situations  involving  sex  relations  and  the 
complications  and  struggles  and  tragedies  •  that 
arise  out  of  them. 

The  moving  pictures  give  an  opportunity  to 
indulge  these  elemental  interests  and  passions 
by  proxy,  as  it  were.  One  can  observe  a  love- 
making  scene  on  the  screen  and  in  a  way  he  can 
project  himself  into  it  and  live  in  it,  much  as 
though  he  were  himself  the  chief  actor.  He  can 
observe  deeds  of  heroism,  as  the  saving  of  a 
life,  or  the  killing  of  a  lion,  or  the  whipping  of 
a  bully,  and  for  the  time  being  the  observer  is 
the  hero;  he  has  something  of  the  same  pleasure 
that  he  would  have  if  he  were  the  real  hero.  And 
so  with  every  stirring  scene  he  observes ;  he  lives 
in  it  and  so  enjoys  it.  This  is  particularly  true 
of  children  who  have  not  developed  the  power  of 
inhibition  to  a  high  degree,  and  whose  impulses 
are  constantly  surging  up  and  demanding  grati- 
fication. The  boy  is  entranced  when  he  can  with- 
draw from  the  conventional  life  about  him  and 
live  in  these  adventurous,  romantic,  heroic,  comic, 
and  amorous  scenes.  For  the  time  being  he  is 


148  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

a  bona  fide  participator  in  these  dramas.  He 
does  not  consider  at  the  moment  that  it  is  all 
make-believe,  and  that  he  is  simply  an  on-looker. 
He  is  right  in  the  midst  of  things.  When  there 
is  bloody  work  going  on  he  is  not  sitting  back  at 
a  safe  distance  and  watching  the  scene.  He  hears 
the  groans  of  the  victim,  and  he  experiences 
active  and  positive  feelings  toward  the  murderer. 
Tears  flow  down  his  cheeks  in  compassion  for  the 
unfortunate,  and  he  rejoices  with  the  hero  and 
heroine  as  though  they  were  performing  before 
him  in  the  flesh. 

Those  who  produce  moving  pictures  are  keen 
students  of  primitive  impulses  and  interests  in 
childhood  and  youth,  and  even  in  mature  life. 
They  know  very  well  that  the  scenes  that  will 
make  the  strongest  appeal  to  young  or  old,  but 
especially  to  the  young,  must  be  built  around  one 
or  another  of  the  elemental  passions.  That  is 
to  say,  their  scenes  must  deal  with  struggle,  with 
the  taking  of  life,  with  love;  and  for  older  per- 
sons, they  must  play  on  the  complications  of 
marriage,  and  ways  and  means  of  avoiding  its 
obligations  and  its  restrictions.  The  moving  pic- 
ture exhibitors  know  they  can  bring  crowds  into 
their  theatres  if  they  will  display  scenes  which 
the  law  would  not  tolerate  on  the  street  or  in  the 
schoolroom  or  in  the  church,  and  which  parents 
never  would  tolerate  in  the  house. 

If  one  goes  into  a  school  he  will  see  that  every- 


DISTRACTIONS  IN  AMERICAN  LIFE  149 

thing  is  planned  so  as  to  to  help  the  child  to  sub- 
due his  animal  instincts  and  interests,  and  to  de- 
velop his  self-restraint.  The  teacher  tries  to 
shut  out  all  suggestions  or  appeals  which  will 
arouse  primitive  passion  or  desire.  No  parent 
or  teacher  would  tolerate  scenes  in  the  school- 
room in  which  men  murdered  one  another  be- 
cause of  amorous  complications.  If  a  teacher 
displayed  scenes  which  suggested  ledwness  or 
vulgarity  of  any  kind  he  would  be  instantly  dis- 
missed. It  would  be  still  worse  if  such  things 
were  exhibited  in  the  church.  The  law  prohibits 
such  displays  on  the  street.  And  why?  Because 
society  realizes  that  if  the  low  and  vulgar  and 
sensual  and  vicious  are  displayed  in  public  they 
will  be  emulated  by  some  of  those  who  view 
them. 

Censorship  of  Pictures  for  the  Young. —  When 
it  is  suggested  that  there  should  be  public  control 
of  the  scenes  which  are  presented  in  moving  pic- 
ture shows  one  can  hear  men  say:  ."Let  the  in- 
dividual do  whatever  he  chooses.  It  is  his  con- 
cern alone  whether  or  not  he  should  witness  lewd 
or  any  other  kind  of  situations.  It  is  not  the 
business  of  the  community  to  supervise  the  be- 
havior of  individuals.  In  a  free  country  let  a 
man  act  in  a  free  way. ' '  Again  one  hears  it  said 
frequently  that  "No  man  is  the  keeper  of  his 
brother's  morals,  or  of  the  morals  of  his 
brother's  children.  If  one  does  not  like  degraded 


150  THE  TREND  OP  THE  TEENS 

scenes  himself  he  may  stay  away  from  the 
4  mo  vies'  and  keep  his  children  away,  but  he  has 
no  right  to  tell  another  man  what  he  shall  do,  or 
what  he  shall  permit  his  children  to  do."  Those 
who  use  such  arguments  do  not  have  confidence 
in  them  when  applied  in  a  universal  way.  They 
would  not  permit  a  house  of  vice  to  flourish  in 
their  neighborhood  in  order  that  a  neighbor 
might  indulge  his  impulses.  They  would  not 
tolerate  obscenity  publicly  displayed  because 
they  would  not  wish  their  children  to  be  affected 
by  it.  In  many  ways  they  would  control  the  acts 
of  indecent  or  immoral  persons  so  that  their 
faults  might  not  be  spread  among  the  innocent. 
It  was  once  maintained  that  no  one  had  a  right 
to  quarantine  a  man  who  had  smallpox  or  scarlet 
fever  or  the  like,  but  such  an  argument  would 
to-day  seem  ridiculous.  We  do  not  allow  a  man 
to  set  up  a  roulette  table  on  the  theory  that  peo- 
ple who  wish  to  patronize  him  can  do  so,  while 
others  who  do  not  wish  to  play  with  chance  can 
stay  away.  Should  we  let  men  operate  a  lottery 
on  the  principle  that  those  who  do  not  wish  to  try 
their  fortunes  with  him  should  have  nothing  to 
say  about  it, —  it  is  none  of  their  business  ? 

For  its  own  protection  society  should  prohibit 
the  display  of  scenes  in  public  places  which  would 
not  be  tolerated  on  the  street  or  in  the  school  or 
the  church  or  the  home.  In  no  decent  place  out- 
side of  the  theatre  are  the  young  permitted  to 


DISTRACTIONS  IN  AMERICAN  LIFE  151 

observe  debauchery  and  doings  in  the  underworld, 
with  attendant  vicious  conduct  in  gambling,  shoot- 
ing, and  the  like.  A  father  would  not  want  his 
child  to  see  in  the  home  or  the  school  criminal 
actions  such  as  robbery  and  picking  pockets  and 
burning  buildings;  why  should  he  permit  these 
deeds  to  be  displayed  in  public  anywhere  when  it 
is  certain  that  from  fifty  to  seventy-five  per  cent, 
of  those  who  view  them  will  be  children  who  may 
be  easily  influenced  by  them?  Most  unfortunate 
of  all,  and  most  disastrous  to  the  moral  life  of 
the  individual  and  of  society,  is  the  witnessing  of 
scenes  which  minimize  the  importance  of  family 
ties,  and  which  exalt  vicious  conduct  tending  to 
destroy  the  marriage  relation.  The  moving  pic- 
ture shows  in  many  places  are  built  up  largely  on 
scenes  which  belittle  the  sanctity  of  marriage,  and 
which  show  ways  and  means  of  deception  in  the 
marriage  relation. 

The  Value  of  Moving  Pictures. —  There  is  an- 
other side  to  this  matter.  While  moving  pictures 
can  make  so  strong  an  appeal  to  what  is  primitive 
and  degenerate  in  human  nature,  they  can  make 
an  equally  strong  appeal  to  what  is  exalted,  cour- 
ageous, heroic,  and  chivalric.  This  is  precisely 
what  is  being  done  in  some  places.  The  time  may 
come  when  the  great  stories  that  have  lived 
throughout  the  ages  will  be  reproduced  in  moving 
pictures.  Every  great  book  should,  if  possible,  be 
dramatized,  and  presented  so  that  the  young,  and 


152  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

the  old  as  well,  can  gain  its  lessons  through  the 
eye;  it  will  then  make  a  deeper  impression  and 
endure  longer  than  when  gained  simply  through 
words,  whether  read  or  heard.  Again,  the  richest 
humor  and  the  finest  comedy  that  have  been  pro- 
duced in  the  race  can  be  and  should  be  presented 
in  moving  pictures.  The  love  of  humor  and  com- 
edy can  thus  be  gratified  in  a  wholesome  way, 
and  not  left  to  be  nourished  on  what  is  crude  and 
coarse  and  vulgar. 

There  is  in  the  world  enough  that  will  delight 
and  captivate  the  young  without  debasing  them, — 
enough  of  adventure  and  romance  and  heroism 
and  comedy ;  and  the  parent,  the  teacher,  the  min- 
ister and  every  other  person  who  has  the  interest 
of  the  young  and  society  at  heart  should  insist 
upon  having  scenes  of  wholesome,  decent  life  in 
the  moving  picture  shows.  That  which  is  brutal 
and  lewd  should  be  rigorously  suppressed. 

Team  Work  Between  Home  and  School. —  The 
chief  problem  of  American  youth  is  to  acquire 
habits  of  application  to  serious  elevating  tasks. 
A  pupil  would  not  be  liberally  educated  to-day  un- 
less he  could  acquire  more  knowledge  than  his 
grandfather  or  grandmother  did.  The  next  gen- 
eration will  need  to  learn  more  than  the  present 
one  because  knowledge  is  constantly  increasing. 
So  a  child  to-day  should  be  more  studious  than  his 
grandfather  in  order  that  he  may  master  what  is 
essential  for  a  liberal  education.  The  standards 


DISTRACTIONS  IN  AMERICAN  LIFE  153 

of  admission  to  high  schools  are  higher  now  than 
they  were  fifty  years  ago.  Indeed,  the  present- 
day  public  high  school  is  doing  as  advanced  work 
as  the  college  did  fifty  years  ago.  This  is  exactly 
as  it  should  be,  because  in  no  other  way  can  the 
schools  keep  abreast  of  accumulating  knowledge. 

Some  of  the  once  vigorous  nations  are  decay- 
ing, partly  because  the  people  have  lost  the  power 
of  long-continued  concentration  on  intellectual 
problems.  They  cannot  even  conserve  what  was 
achieved  by  their  ancestors,  not  to  speak  of  add- 
ing anything  thereto.  The  moment  this  happens 
in  any  nation,  the  nation  is  doomed.  When  the 
majority  of  the  young  people  in  a  community  be- 
gin to  devote  all  their  out-of-school  hours  to  idle- 
ness or  distracting  activities,  then  the  community 
will  cease  to  progress,  and  sooner  or  later  it  will 
turn  back  in  its  path.  There  are  many  commu- 
nities in  the  Old  World  and  some  in  our  own 
country  that  illustrate  this  principle. 

Young  People  Should  Study  at  Home. —  So  the 
home  must  cooperate  with  the  school  in  develop- 
ing habits  of  application  to  study.  This  can  be 
accomplished  only  when  the  home  is  arranged 
with  a  view  to  having  the  children  read  or  study 
during  a  part  of  every  evening.  The  parents  in  a 
community  should  agree  to  have  all  the  children 
in  their  homes  devote  themselves  to  their  books  or 
their  music  or  something  worth  while  in  an  intel- 
lectual way  during  certain  hours  of  the  evening. 


154          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

Parents  can  help  their  children  to  apply  them- 
selves to  their  work  by  providing  a  study  desk 
for  each  child.  The  arrangement  of  light  is  an 
important  matter  in  encouraging  concentration. 
The  child's  book  or  work  should  be  illuminated, 
but  the  region  beyond  should  be  shaded.  This 
tends  to  rivet  the  attention  to  the  task  in  hand. 
Preliminary  investigations  have  shown  that  most 
persons  cannot  concentrate  as  well  in  a  dispersed 
light  coming  from  some  part  of  the  room,  usually 
the  ceiling,  as  they  can  when  the  light  is  thrown 
directly  upon  the  work.  A  desk  lamp  so  shaded 
as  to  concentrate  the  light  upon  the  book  and  to 
keep  it  out  of  the  eyes  is  most  favorable  for  the 
cultivation  of  habits  of  application. 

It  is  not  necessary  that  each  child  in  a  home 
should  have  a  study  room  for  himself  alone.  In- 
deed, it  is  better  that  the  children  and  the  parents 
should  be  in  the  same  room  provided  all  are  en- 
gaged in  intellectual  tasks.  Investigations  recent- 
ly made  have  shown  that  the  majority  of  persons 
can  study  better  in  a  group  than  when  they  are 
alone.  In  colleges  many  of  the  students  cannot 
apply  themselves  to  their  tasks  in  their  own 
rooms,  but  when  they  go  to  the  library  and  are 
surrounded  by  others  engaged  in  study  they  are 
helped  to  concentrate  upon  their  work. 

The  best  arrangement  would  be  to  have  in 
every  home  a  room  set  aside  as  a  study-room  or 
library.  There  should  be  a  special  place  reserved 


DISTRACTIONS  IN  AMERICAN  LIFE  155 

in  this  room  for  each  child  and  for  the  father  and 
the  mother.  When  it  comes  seven  o'clock  in  the 
evening,  or  whatever  hour  is  agreed  upon,  each 
person  should  be  in  his  place.  They  should  all  be 
at  work,  and  then  no  one  will  have  a  tendency  to 
shirk  or  yield  to  distraction.  Habits  of  industry 
are  as  contagious  as  habits  of  idleness  and  dis- 
sipation. It  is  practically  impossible  for  a  parent 
to  develop  studious  habits  in  his  children  when 
all  the  other  children  in  the  community  are  out  on 
the  street.  But  it  is  usually  not  at  all  impossible 
to  accomplish  this  when  all  the  other  children  are 
applying  themselves  to  their  tasks. 

The  Telephone  Is  a  Distractive  Factor. —  One 
factor  which  interferes  with  the  development  of 
rigorous  mental  habits  in  modern  life  is  the  tele- 
phone. In  many  homes  it  prevents  any  continuous 
periods  of  study.  A  child  may  be  just  getting  his 
attention  upon  his  work  and  shutting  out  distrac- 
tions when  he  is  called  to  the  telephone,  and  it 
may  be  some  time  before  he  can  apply  himself  to 
his  task  again.  If  this  happens  two  or  three 
times  during  an  evening  it  will  tend  to  develop  a 
habit  of  mind  which  will  make  it  difficult  for 
him  to  concentrate  upon  any  intellectual  task. 

A  program  should  be  worked  out  in  every  home 
so  that  there  will  be  certain  hours  in  the  evening 
when  a  child  who  is  studying  cannot  be  called  to 
the  telephone  or  any  other  place.  He  should  early 
be  made  to  realize  that  when  he  is  engaged  in  his 


156          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

work  nothing  should  be  allowed  to  interfere  until 
his  task  is  finished.  If  he  does  not  acquire  the 
habit  of  application  for  long  uninterrupted  peri- 
ods, he  will  be  in  endless  trouble,  and  he  will 
neither  be  happy  or  contented  himself  nor  will  he 
give  pleasure  to  others.  The  happiest  young  peo- 
ple whom  one  meets  in  high  school  or  college  are 
those  who  have  acquired  habits  of  concentration 
which  enable  them  to  do  their  work  up  to  stand- 
ard, and  so  to  gain  the  approval  and  good  will 
of  their  instructors  and  their  classmates.  The 
most  unhappy  individual  is  the  one  who  every  day 
incurs  the  censure  of  his  instructors  and  the 
ridicule  of  his  fellows. 

Many  parents  think  it  is  a  hardship  for  chil- 
dren to  be  required  to  develop  these  studious 
habits  in  the  home ;  but  the  hardship  will  be  great- 
er for  anyone  who  does  not  acquire  them.  This 
does  not  mean  that  a  child  should  not  have  sev- 
eral hours  of  freedom  every  day  in  which  he  may 
do  what  he  pleases.  But  he  must  have  some  time 
when  he  will  give  himself  without  interruption 
to  intellectual  tasks. 

Parents  Often  Encourage  Distraction. — A  word 
should  be  said  in  this  connection  about  the  tend- 
ency of  many  parents  to  worry  about  their  chil- 
dren "improving"  themselves.  They  think  it  is 
educative  for  children  to  attend  concerts,  moving 
picture  shows,  entertainments  for  the  benefit  of 
charitable  institutions,  take  part  in  dramatics, 


DISTRACTIONS  IN  AMERICAN  LIFE  157 

and  the  like.  Every  day  one  hears  parents  and 
teachers  debating  the  question  whether  it  would 
be  better  for  their  children  to  attend  a  drained 
animal  show  at  the  Orpheum,  say,  or  to  devote 
the  time  that  would  thus  be  spent  to  study  at 
home.  -There  are  so  many  forms  of  entertain- 
ment and  general  instruction  now  in  almost  eveiy 
town  and  city  that  children  might  devote  all  their 
afternoons  and  evenings  to  something  which  many 
persons  think  would  be  improving  for  them. 

But  there  is  danger  in  this.  The  knowledge 
that  will  be  of  most  service  in  adult  life  has  been 
gathered  into  the  various  subjects  of  study.  With- 
out arithmetic,  say,  the  development  of  the  race 
would  have  been  impossible,  and  any  individual 
who  does  not  master  arithmetic  will  be  handi- 
capped in  his  life.  Exactly  the  same  principle  is 
true  of  practically  every  subject  taught  in  the 
elementary  schools.  No  one  can  seriously  quesr 
tion  the  statement  that  most  of  what  is  found  to- 
day in  any  progressive  school  is  essential  in  order 
that  one  may  be  able  to  handle  himself  properly 
and  effectively  when  he  enters  real  life.  But  this 
knowledge  is  not  as  exciting,  is  not  as  full  of 
fire,  does  not  appeal  to  the  emotions  so  strongly 
as  does  the  sort  of  thing  that  may  be  seen  in  the 
moving  picture  show,  or  heard  at  the  concert,  or 
that  may  be  experienced  in  taking  part  in  a  play. 

One  may  observe  children  who  have  become 
greatly  interested  in  these  latter  activities  lose 


158  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

their  power  of  application  to  the  work  of  the 
school.  College  students  who  become  absorbed 
in  dramatics  or  who  acquire  the  habit  of  going  to 
the  theatre,  or  are  over-fond  of  the  dance,  or  who 
cannot  resist  the  temptation  to  be  visiting  some- 
body much  of  the  time,  are  likely  to  fail  in  their 
intellectual  tasks.  .  When  such  a  student  tries  to 
apply  himself  to  a  serious  piece  of  work  he  be- 
comes restless.  The  pull  of  the  world  outside  is 
strong  upon  him,  and  it  usually  is  a  matter  of 
only  a  short  time  until  he  will  yield  to  it. 

Shall  children  not  take  advantage  of  these 
"improving"  activities  then?  Only  very  spar- 
ingly. A  mother  who  urges  her  boy  when  he  has 
settled  down  of  an  evening  for  study  or  reading  to 
go  to  the  theatre  with  her  because  there  is  a  play 
on  that  she  thinks  may  give  him  some  "knowledge 
of  life"  is  making  a  mistake.  Even  if  the  play 
would  instruct  him,  which  is  doubtful,  still  he 
ought  to  acquire  the  habit  of  application  to  his 
intellectual  tasks  at  home.  There  will  be  distrac- 
tions enough  anyway  no  matter  how  much  we  may 
do  to  protect  our  children  from  them,  and  a 
parent  or  teacher  ought  only  very  rarely  to  sug- 
gest to  his  children  that  they  should  go  to  this 
or  that  or  the  other  thing  which  is  unrelated  to 
their  school  work. 

The  chief  requirement  of  the  child  is  to  master 
this  systematized  knowledge  which  has  slowly  ac- 
cumulated throughout  the  development  of  the 


DISTRACTIONS  IN  AMERICAN  LIFE  159 

race,  and  which  is  the  result  of  all  the  experi- 
ments of  our  ancestors  in  their  efforts  to  solve 
the  problems  of  life.  Unless  the  child  is  well 
grounded  in  all  this  knowledge,  the  "improving" 
things  will  not  do  him  much  good. 

The  Tonic  Effect  of  Mastery. —  This  will  be  the 
best  place  to  impress  the  fact  that  the  mastery  of 
intellectual  tasks  is  a  tonic  to  a  flabby  character. 
Every  large  school  contains  records  of  pupils  who 
at  one  time  did  poor  work  in  school,  and  were 
starting  on  a  life  of  loafing  and  dissipation,  but 
who  straightened  up  and  did  excellent  work  later 
on.  What  was  the  cause  of  such  a  change?  In  a 
large  proportion  of  cases  these  pupils  who  were 
drifting  along  came  in  time  upon  a  subject  which 
appealed  to  them  and  they  mastered  it,  and  the 
consciousness  of  mastery  acted  as  a  sort  of  tonic 
to  their  whole  mental  and  moral  life.  Here  is  a 
typical  concrete  example: 

H.  J.  is  now  sixteen  years  of  age.  Up  until 
last  year  he  was  at  the  bottom  of  his  class  and 
he  was  known  as  a  loafer.  He  did  just  enough 
work  to  pull  through  each  year.  Formerly  he 
had  been  taught  entirely  by  women  teachers,  but 
last  year  he  had  two  strong  men  for  instructors. 
Although  they  treated  him  rather  severely  for 
what  they  thought  was  lack  of  application  to  his 
studies,  he  still  regarded  them  highly.  The  in- 
fluence of  these  two  instructors  began  soon  to 
tell  on  the  boy.  Before  the  year  closed  he  had 


160         THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

earned  a  rank  of  "Excellent"  in  two  studies.  The 
discovery  that  he  could  do  any  work  which  would 
entitle  him  to  receive  an  "Excellent"  changed  his 
attitude  toward  all  his  work  and  improved  his 
conduct.  This  year  he  is  excellent  in  all  his 
studies.  He  acts  like  a  boy  who  had  suddenly 
found  out  that  he  could  jump  over  a  fence  twice 
as  high  as  he  thought  he  could.  Such  a  boy  after 
his  discovery  of  his  ability  would  not  be  content 
with  jumping  over  low  fences;  he  would  insist 
upon  going  as  high  as  possible.  So  with  H.  J. 
now;  he  would  be  ashamed  to  do  work  entitling 
him  to  a  rank  of  "Poor"  only.  He  realizes  that 
he  is  capable  of  doing  high-grade  work,  and  he 
feels  an  inspiration  in  the  doing  of  it.  He  would 
feel  the  same  now  in  being  at  the  foot  of  the 
class  as  he  would  in  running  a  race  and  coming  in 
last  when  he  could  easily  be  first. 

Nature  equips  every  individual  normally  with 
an  impulse  to  do  his  best  in  any  field  of  endeavor. 
But  many  pupils  never  find  out  what  their  best  is 
in  intellectual  work.  They  go  along  at  a  slow 
pace  because  they  do  not  come  in  contact  with 
persons  who  arouse  them  so  they  make  use  of  all 
their  powers.  The  best  thing  that  could  happen 
to  any  pupil  of  ability  who  is  lagging  behind 
would  be  to  have  an  experience  which  would  con- 
vince him  that  he  could  do  work  up  to  the  highest 
standard  in  his  school.  The  sense  of  being  at  the 
top  of  a  class  and  of  being  master  of  a  situation 


All  boys  should  have  opportunity  for  "stunts"  in  a  gymnasium. 


Volley  ball  is  a  fine  game  for  adolescent  girls. 

HUH — H 


A  normal  boy  likes  to  work  with  tools.    Boys  who  have  adequate 

facilities  to  make  practical  things  as  these  boys  are  doing 

are   not   likely   to   become   enamored   with   the   street. 


DISTRACTIONS  IN  AMERICAN  LIFE  161 

would  quicken  his  whole  life.  Not  only  would  it 
enable  him  to  accomplish  more  and  better  work, 
but  the  very  fact  that  he  discovered  that  he  could 
achieve  tasks  on  a  high  plane  would  be  a  source 
of  infinite  satisfaction  and  inspiration  to  him. 
Such  a  boy  would  get  much  more  out  of  life  and 
be  happier  than  he  would  be  if  he  should  continue 
to  go  along  without  exerting  himself  to  the  limit 
of  his  capacity. 

When  a  pupil  is  able  to  say, — "I  can  do  this 
work  up  to  the  highest  standard,  and  therefore  I- 
will  do  it, ' '  his  life  thereafter  will  be  in  every 
way  of  more  worth  to  himself  and  to  others  than 
it  would  be  if  he  should  say, — "I  cannot  do  any- 
thing but  poor  work,  and  therefore  I  will  not  try 
to  do  any  better. ' '  This  latter  attitude  is  deadly  in 
its  effect  upon  the  achievement  and  happiness  of 
any  person. 

The  Home  Can  Often  Develop  Habits  of  Ap- 
plication.—  An  investigator  has  recently  made 
inquiry  of  many  university  students  regarding 
their  early  schooling.  A  number  of  them  were 
taught  their  elementary  studies  by  their  father 
or  mother.  Only  a  very  few  had  instruction  in 
high-school  subjects  at  home.  Several  of  those 
who  were  taught  by  father  or  mother  had  ap- 
parently saved  from  three  to  five  years  in  their 
school  course.  The  other  home-taught  pupils 
were  about  even  with  those  who  had  come  up 
through  the  public  schools.  The  youngest  pupil 


162  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

in  the  university  received  all  his  elementary  in- 
struction at  home.  However,  he  has  taken  no 
part  in  any  " outside  activities."  He  is  not  dis- 
tinguished in  anything  which  requires  leadership 
of  a  group.  He  is  not  even  a  member  of  any 
social  organization  in  the  university.  He  is  in- 
terested primarily  in  books  rather  than  in  execu- 
tive or  manual  work  of  any  kind.  He  thinks  in 
words  rather  than  in  objects  or  concrete  situa- 
tions. But  he  has  acquired  habits  of  prolonged 
application  to  mental  tasks.  Also  he  has  ac- 
quired an  accurate,  precise,  logical  method  of 
work,  and  he  secures  high  ranking  in  all  his 
studies. 

Practically  all  of  the  students  who  have  testi- 
fied regarding  their  early  training  and  who  are 
having  hard  sledding  in  the  university  received 
their  elementary  instruction  in  the  public  schools. 
Their  chief  defect  now  is  the  lack  of  rigorous  ap- 
plication to  intellectual  tasks.  They  waste  time. 
They  are  easily  distracted.  They  do  not  follow  a 
regular  program  of  work  and  play.  Instructors 
say  they  are  not  attentive  in  their  classrooms. 
They  are  more  eager  to  play  a  joke  on  one  of 
their  fellows  or  on  their  instructors,  than  they 
are  to  accomplish  the  proper  work  of  the  school. 

The  writer  has  been  able  to  study  a  consider- 
able number  of  pupils  who  have  either  failed 
completely  in  their  school  work,  or  who  are  al- 
ways on  the  ragged  edge.  The  difficulty  in  eight 


DISTRACTIONS  IN  AMERICAN  LIFE  163 

out  of  ten  such  cases  is  that  they  are  too  easily 
distracted.  They  do  not  concentrate  on  a  task 
long  enough  to  master  it.  They  have  not  learned 
what  mastery  means.  They  have  no  high  stand- 
ards of  thoroughness  and  excellence  in  their  work. 
It  is  a  curious  fact  that  most  pupils  of  this  type 
exercise  their  minds  more  actively  to  get  out  of 
completing  tasks  than  actually  to  perform  them. 
They  spend  an  amount  of  energy  and  exercise  an 
amount  of  ingenuity  in  thinking  of  excuses  and 
ways  to  "put  it  over"  on  an  instructor  or  to 
deceive  him  or  arouse  his  sympathy,  which  if 
directed  into  proper  paths  would  enable  them  to 
complete  their  tasks  in  an  excellent  manner. 

A  parent  who  has  a  child  coming  up  to  school 
age  should  visit  the  kindergarten  or  first  grade 
in  the  public  school  in  his  district.  He  should 
observe  especially  the  mental  habits  of  the 
pupils.  He  should  note  whether  they  apply  them- 
selves to  their  tasks  and  master  them  without  dis- 
traction, or  whether  they  are  constantly  shifting 
from  one  thing  to  another.  If  he  finds  that  appli- 
cation to  duties  during  working  hours  is  the  rule 
he  may  well  send  his  child  there.  But  if  he  finds 
that  pupils  are  habitually  noticing  everything 
that  is  happening  around  them,  and  if  they  think 
it  is  more  clever  to  ' '  cut  up ' '  than  to  make  good 
recitations  or  master  any  task  in  hand,  then  he 
ought  either  to  try  to  change  the  spirit  of  the 
school,  or  else  to  start  his  child  in  his  work  at 


164  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

home,  if  concentration  can  be  cultivated  in  the 
home. 

The  child  should  remain  at  home  until  he  gains 
well-established  mental  habits  so  that  he  can  re- 
sist distractions.  When  he  reaches  the  place 
where  he  can  attend  to  a  task  in  hand  until  he 
completes  it,  and  the  feeling  for  mastery  is  estab- 
lished, then  he  should  go  to  a  public  school  so 
that  he  may  receive  the  discipline  which  can  be 
derived  only  from  working  with  a  group.  He  will 
gain  some  advantage,  also,  from  the  stimulus 
which  always  comes  from  friendly  rivalry  and 
competition.  Further,  there  will  be  an  advantage 
in  his  learning  how  to  adjust  himself  to  others, 
provided  the  social  tone  in  the  school  is  whole- 
some. But  if  the  spirit  is  unwholesome,  if  the 
pupils  would  rather  be  accomplished  in  mischief 
than  in  intellectual  work,  then  the  parent  should 
keep  his  child  out  of  the  public  school,  even 
though  he  may  sacrifice  something  on  the  social 
side.  It  is  certain  that  a  young  pupil  will  be 
profoundly  influenced  by  the  attitude  and  ideals 
of  his  group.  If  they  are  serious  and  respectful, 
he  will  be  helped;  if  they  are  indifferent,  mis- 
chievous, deceptive,  he  will  surely  be  injured. 

Some  Advantages  of  School  Training. —  There 
are  some  kinds  of  w^ork  which  cannot  be  done  well 
in  the  home  unless  classmates  are  brought  in 
from  outside.  A  pupil  cannot  learn  to  express 
himself  readily  and  effectively  when  he  talks  only 


DISTRACTIONS  IN  AMERICAN  LIFE  165 

to  Ms  father  or  mother.  Expression  in  all  its 
aspects,  even  in  debate  and  oratory,  can  come  to 
perfection  only  in  the  group.  Children  who  are 
taught  in  the  home  until  they  reach  college  rarely, 
if  ever,  develop  freedom  and  efficiency  in  debate, 
or  in  any  form  of  oral  expression.  Again,  ethical 
and  moral  action  cannot  be  developed  except  in  a 
limited  way  unless  a  pupil  is  trained  in  the  group. 
No  child  ever  yet  learned  far-reaching  ethical 
and  moral  lessons  simply  by  being  told  in  the 
home  how  to  conduct  himself,  or  in  studying  text 
books  on  conduct. 

The  best  way  for  any  parent  who  realizes  that 
the  school  in  his  community  does  not  train  pupils 
in  habits  of  concentration  is  to  attempt  to  change 
the  tone  of  the  school.  He  probably  will  not  have 
much  success  if  the  teachers  are  required  to  in- 
struct and  care  for  fifty  or  sixty  pupils.  It  is 
an  exceptional  teacher  who  can  teach  fifty  pupils 
week  in  and  week  out,  and  prevent  habits  of  in- 
attention from  developing  among  them.  It  is 
unfair  to  a  teacher,  and  practically  useless,  to 
complain  about  distraction  in  a  room  in  which 
there  is  incessant  change  and  restlessness,  be- 
cause of  the  large  numbers  to  be  taught.  Even 
a  teacher  cannot  avoid  being  tense  and  distracted 
herself  under  such  conditions. 

Sending  Pupils  Away  to  School. —  When  a 
pupil  cannot  resist  the  distractions  in  his  com- 
munity he  had  better  be  sent  away  from  home  to 


166         THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

a  school  where  the  environments  compel  attention 
to  study.  A  concrete  instance  will  illustrate  the 
good  that  may  come  from  such  a  course. 

A  certain  boy  had  completed  the  sophomore 
year  in  a  high  school  in  a  middle  western  state. 
He  had  made  a  low  record  in  his  studies.  He  was 
well  endowed  physically  and  mentally,  but  he  did 
not  apply  himself  rigorously  to  his  school  tasks. 
He  was  a  favorite  among  the  young  people  in  his 
community,  and  he  was  fond  of  having  a  good 
time.  His  parents  and  his  teachers  were  con- 
stantly urging  him  to  "raise  his  marks,"  but 
he  kept  pretty  near  the  lower  limit  during  his  two 
years  in  school. 

At  the  beginning  of  his  junior  year  he  went  to 
a  preparatory  school  in  the  East.  This  school  is 
located  a  number  of  miles  from  any  town.  The 
boys  live  in  the  dormitories,  and  are  under  guid- 
ance and  counsel  of  the  masters  all  the  time.  The 
world  is  shut  out  of  this  school.  The  boys  have 
a  good  time  among  themselves,  but  they  do  not 
participate  in  any  outside  activities.  The  particu- 
lar boy  who  is  the  subject  of  this  sketch  protested 
vigorously  against  the  arrangements  of  the  school 
during  his  first  few  months  there.  He  wanted  to 
leave  it  and  return  to  the  high  school  in  his  home 
town,  but  his  parents  would  not  listen  to  it.  The 
masters  applied  pressure  to  him  because  they 
felt  he  was  capable  of  doing  a  much  higher  grade 
of  work  than  he  was  spontaneously  inclined  to  do. 


DISTRACTIONS  IN  AMERICAN  LIFE  167 

He  is  now  well  along  in  his  senior  year.  He  is 
near  the  top  of  his  class.  The  masters  say  that 
he  will  be  placed  on  the  honor  roll.  He  is  en- 
thusiastic now  about  work  whereas  formerly  he 
was  enthusiastic  only  about  parties  and  a  "high 
old  time. ' '  When  he  comes  home  for  vacation  he 
talks  to  his  former  classmates  about  "digging 
into  work."  He  is  beginning  to  acquire  genuine 
intellectual  interests,  though  a  few  years  past  he 
resisted  every  attempt  to  induce  him  to  apply 
himself  faithfully  to  any  mental  task. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  ROLE  OF  THE  FATHER  IN  THE  TRAINING 
OF  YOUTH 

The  Fatherless  Children  of  America. —  Re- 
cently sixty-five  men,  members  of  a  social  club  in 
a  moderate-sized  city,  spent  an  evening  in  the 
discussion  of  the  topic,  "What  about  our  Boys?" 
The  man  who  led  in  the  discussion  began  by  ask- 
ing the  question:  "How  much  time  do  you  men 
spend  with  your  boys  every  week?"  He  passed 
around  pads  and  asked  each  man  to  think  over  a 
week's  program  and  write  down  the  time  which 
he  usually  spent  with  his  boys  every  day.  The 
statements  made  by  these  men  were  preserved 
and  the  writer  has  been  looking  them  over.  They 
serve  to  impress  one  fact, —  that,  speaking  gen- 
erally, American  fathers  are  not  having  vital  re- 
lations with  their  boys — or  with  their  daughters 
either,  for  that  matter — so  as  to  make  a  deep  im- 
pression upon  them  for  good. 

The  majority  of  the  men  who  gave  testimony 
respecting  the  role  they  are  playing  in  the  devel- 
opment of  their  children  do  not  see  much  of  their 
families  on  week-day  mornings.  Usually  they 
eat  breakfast  hurriedly  and  as  a  rule  the  children 

168 


THE  ROLE  OF  THE  FATHER          169 

are  not  at  the  breakfast  table.  The  men  do  not 
return  to  their  homes  for  luncheon.  Two  or  three 
evenings  each  week  they  stay  down  town  to  attend 
a  dinner  or  a  meeting  of  some  kind,  and  one  or 
two  evenings  they  are  at  their  club  or  have  social 
or  business  engagements.  Often  on  Sunday  they 
take  trips  unaccompanied  by  their  children.  Some 
of  the  men  say  in  their  statements  that  even  when 
they  are  at  home  the  children  are  off  attending 
parties  and  frequently  the  weekly  program  of  the 
father  and  the  children  turns  out  so  that  they 
do  not  come  together  for  any  meal  except  break- 
fast, and  that  is  so  brief  and  hurried  that  they  do 
not  have  much  to  say  to  one  another.  So,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  these  fathers  can  hardly  keep  up 
their  acquaintance  with  their  children,  they  see 
them  so  rarely. 

The  children  in  many  of  these  homes  are  in  the 
public  schools.  Inquiry  has  revealed  the  fact  that 
there  is  not  one  man  in  any  of  the  elementary 
schools  in  this  particular  city.  There  are  sixty- 
four  teachers  in  the  high  school  and  all  but  eigh- 
teen of  them  are  women.  It  is  apparent,  then, 
that  the  boys  in  this  city  will  not  come  under 
masculine  influence  to  any  extent  from  their  birth 
on  through  the  high-school  age. 

Who  Are  Moulding  the  Character  of  the 
Young f — Any  father  who  reads  these  lines  could 
profitably  devote  a  few  minutes  to  making  out 
his  own  program  in  order  to  determine  how  much 


170  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

time  he  spends  with  his  children  and  what  he  does 
when  he  is  with  them.  It  would  prove  illuminat- 
ing to  every  father  if  he  would  try  to  determine 
who  are  really  influencing  his  children,  his  boys 
especially,  in  their  development.  Undoubtedly 
the  mother  is  to  some  extent.  The  teachers  are 
probably  exerting  more  influence  than  the  mother. 
But  companions  and  the  characters  displayed  in 
moving  pictures  and  in  vaudeville  are  playing 
the  principal  role  for  good  or  ill.  Some  influence 
is  probably  exerted  by  the  characters  in  history 
and  literature,  though  in  many  schools  these  sub- 
jects are  so  taught  that  the  biographical  element 
does  not  play  a  prominent  part. 

Can  any  good  thing  be  said  for  a  regime 
wherein  fathers  play  a  minor  role  in  the  develop- 
ment of  their  sons  ?  Undoubtedly  in  certain  cases 
it  is  best  that  the  father's  influence  should  be  very 
slight.  Some  fathers  are  always  in  a  critical 
attitude  toward  their  sons,  and  they  do  them  more 
harm  than  good.  When  a  boy  falls  into  the  way 
of  thinking  of  his  father  as  a  fault-finder  it  is  best 
for  both  that  they  should  not  be  together  very 
much.  A  boy  who  is  continually  condemned  will 
acquire  a  calloused  disposition  until  in  the  end 
he  will  not  respond  to  any  criticism,  and  is  likely 
to  develop  a  defensive  and  resistant  attitude 
toward  everyone  who  has  authority  over  him.  One 
frequently  comes  across  such  boys  and  they  are 
hard  to  deal  with.  It  would  be  better  for  them 


THE  ROLE  OF  THE  FATHER  171 

to  grow  up  without  any  help  from  their  fathers 
rather  than  for  them  to  become  antagonistic 
toward  those  whom  they  should  respect  and  obey. 

Compensating  Factors. — For  those  fathers  who 
are  so  situated  that  they  cannot  see  much  of  their 
boys  there  is  a  compensating  factor  of  consider- 
able value.  Sooner  or  later  one's  children  must 
go  out  into  the  world  and  live  with  people  with 
whom  they  have  no  blood  relation.  They  should 
early  learn  how  to  adapt  themselves  to  such  peo- 
ple. They  should  discover  that  in  order  to  get 
on  well  in  the  world  they  must  play  fair  in  every 
situation.  They  must  serve  as  well  as  be  served. 
They  must  be  on  the  alert  to  take  advantage  of 
opportunities.  They  must  be  self-reliant;  they 
must  take  the  initiative.  Usually  these  qualities 
are  not  developed  in  children  who  are  looked 
after  too  closely  by  parents.  Often  boys  who  are 
thrown  on  their  own  resources  at  eleven  or  twelve 
achieve  greater  success  than  boys  who  are  kept 
under  their  parents'  wings  until  they  reach  their 
majority. 

But  boys  should  have  contact  in  some  place 
with  virile  men.  Fortunately  the  women  in 
our  public  schools  are,  taken  as  a  whole,  above- 
criticism  in  respect  to  personal  and  intellectual 
characteristics;  but  even  so,  a  boy  needs  the 
stimulus  and  steadying  influence  which  can  be 
derived  only  from  close  association  with  vigor- 
ous men.  The  majority  of  boys  will  not  do  their 


172  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

best  unless  they  have  virile  men  to  pattern  after. 
Add  to  this  the  fact  that,  during  adolescence  at 
any  rate,  the  typical  woman  cannot  gain  a  full 
comprehension  of  a  boy's  experiences  and  needs 
and  she  cannot  understand  how  to  handle  him  in 
certain  situations,  and  it  will  be  apparent  why  a 
boy  in  the  teens  should  be  trained  by  men  as  well 
as  by  women. 

Taking  things  as  they  are  in  American  life, 
would  it  not  be  better  if  men  arranged  their  busi- 
ness programs  so  that  they  could  be  with  their 
children  at  least  an  hour  a  day  regularly  and  for 
two  or  three  weeks  at  a  time  during  vacation 
periods?  A  certain  very  busy  man  recently  told 
the  writer  that  he  jumped  on  a  train  one  day  with 
his  son  and  went  with  him  to  the  Pacific  Coast. 
The  round  trip  occupied  four-and-a-half  weeks. 
The  father  said  he  took  the  trip  solely  for 
the  purpose  of  being  with  his  boy  so  closely 
that  he  could  study  him.  As  a  result,  he  gained 
a  knowledge  of  the  boy's  interests  and  strong 
and  weak  points  which  he  said  was  of  inestimable 
service  in  deciding  how  the  boy  should  be  edu- 
cated. This  man  advised  that  every  father 
should  take  a  trip  with  his  son  when  none  of  the 
other  members  of  the  family  were  along  so  that 
the  two  of  them  could  become  intimately  ac- 
quanted.  The  suggestion  is  an  admirable  one 
whenever  it  is  feasible.  Of  course,  a  great  many 
men  cannot  take  long  trips  with  their  sons,  but 


THE  ROLE  OF  THE  FATHER  173 

they  could  take  short  ones  lasting  for  a  half  or  a 
whole  day  on  a  holiday  or  a  Sunday.  The  writer 
knows  a  number  of  fathers  who  go  out  for  a 
week-end  camping  trip  with  their  sons,  and  in 
summer  they  go  into  the  North  Woods  for  a 
two-  or  three-weeks'  trip. 

It  is  not  the  intention  to  give  the  impression 
that  if  a  father  is  not  with  his  sons  a  good  part 
of  the  time  the  latter  are  certain  to  go  to  perdi- 
tion. This  is  not  of  necessity  the  case.  One 
knows  boys  who  are  developing  in  the  finest  way, 
but  who  see  very  little  of  their  fathers.  In  such 
cases  the  boys  are  influenced  in  the  right  direc- 
tion by  their  mothers  and  by  their  companions 
and  teachers  and  other  associates,  and  also  by  the 
moving  pictures  which  they  see,  and  the  sugges- 
tions they  gain  from  their  reading.  In  such 
circumstances  the  father  will  not  be  much  missed. 
His  boys  will  grow  up  about  as  well  without  him 
as  with  him.  Such  a  statement  may  seem  to  some 
readers  to  be  rather  cold  and  heartless,  but  it 
is  tru^e  and  it  should  give  comfort  to  some  fathers 
who  do  not  see  how  they  can  arrange  their  pro- 
gram so  that  they  can  shape  their  boys '  develop- 
ment to  any  extent.  In  such  cases  they  should  at 
least  see  to  it  that  those  who  are  shaping  their 
boys7  lives  have  vigorous,  wholesome  masculine 
ideals. 

Types  of  Fathers  and  Sons. —  Mr.  A.  is  the 
father  of  three  boys.  They  are  spoken  of  in  high 


174          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

terms  by  all  who  know  them.  One  is  doing  excel- 
lent work  in  the  high  school  and  the  two  older 
ones  are  doing  equally  well  in  college.  They  are 
well-mannered,  and  their  conduct  is  above  re- 
proach. At  the  same  time  they  are  "good  fel- 
lows" with  their  companions.  They  are  fre- 
quently chosen  by  their  classmates  for  important 
offices.  They  are  dependable  boys.  Their  teachers 
recognize  this  and  place  them  uniformly  near  or 
at  the  head  of  their  classes. 

The  father's  income  is  modest.  The  family  live 
in  a  simple  but  frank  and  wholesome  way.  The 
father  is  an  inch  or  two  over  six  feet  in  height. 
He  received  high  honors  in  college  in  two  or  three 
branches  of  athletics.  He  is  a  thoroughly  mascu- 
line type  of  man.  His  associates  like  him,  but  his 
boys  like  him  better  than  anyone  else.  He  is  with 
them  a  good  deal.  Every  summer  they  spend  sev- 
eral weeks  together  in  the  woods,  or  on  rivers  or 
lakes,  usually  far  away  from  familiar  haunts.  On 
these  hikes  the  father  is  one  of  the  group,  only  a 
little  stronger  and  more  experienced  than  the 
others. 

One  never  hears  of  conflicts  between  this  father 
and  his  boys.  They  are  just  good  fellows  to- 
gether,—  informal,  chummy,  hearty.  They  share 
and  share  alike  in  everything.  He  seems  to  have 
a  little  better  time  with  his  boys  than  he  does 
with  anyone  else,  and  he  is  with  them  every 
chance  he  gets. 


THE  ROLE  OF  THE  FATHER  175 

ar"^'** 

What  is  the  chief  source  of  his  success  with  his 
boys?  First  of  all,  his  physique  and  his  mascu- 
linity. He  is  a  vigorous,  positive,  dynamic  type. 
He  never  nags  the  boys;  he  does  not  need  to  do 
so.  His  personality  suggests  tremendous  power; 
and  boys  respect  and  admire  power.  What  the 
father  says  goes  without  question,  simply  because 
he  says  it.  His  boys  never  think  of  him  as  being 
selfish  or  domineering  or  dictatorial.  He  is  to 
them  a  strong,  masterful,  hearty  man,  who  is 
interested  in  people,  his  boys  particularly,  and  I 
they  follow  him  as  they  would  any  born  leader. 
Natural  leadership  is  the  secret  of  his  power. 

A  Different  Type. —  Mr.  B.  has  a  much  larger 
income  than  Mr.  A.  His  family  is  regarded  in 
the  community  in  which  he  lives  as  quite  aristo- 
cratic. Both  Mr.  B.  and  his  wife  take  consider- 
able pride  in  their  distingushed  ancestry.  They 
have  a  fine  house  with  elaborate  furnishings,  and 
they  visit  at  the  best  houses  and  entertain  the 
elite  of  their  community.  In  addition  to  his  other 
advantages,  Mr.  B.  is  a  widely-known  scholar  in 
his  special  field. 

There  are  two  boys  in  this  family,  but  they  are 
turning  out  very  differently  from  Mr.  A's  boys. 
They  have  not  made  a  good  record  in  school  or 
college.  The  younger  one  will  not  be  able  to 
complete  his  college  course;  he  likes  cigarettes 
and  loafing  better  than  he  does  his  studies  and 
his  classrooms.  These  boys  have  not  secured  the 


176          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

admiration  or  confidence  either  of  their  class- 
mates or  of  their  teachers.  The  best  way  to 
describe  them  is  that  they  do  not  count  for  much 
either  with  their  fellow  students  or  with  the 
faculty. 

Mr.  B.  has  practically  no  companionship  with 
his  boys.  They  do  not  like  to  be  with  him  ap- 
parently, and  he  does  not  seem  to  wish  to  be  with 
them.  There  is  not  very  close  companionship 
between  the  members  of  Mr.  B's  family.  The 
boys  do  not  pull  together  very  well.  They  hardly 
ever  seem  to  be  entirely  in  harmony  with  the 
father. 

Mr.  B.  is  about  five  feet  five  inches  in  height. 
He  does  not  impress  anyone  as  being  a  vigorous, 
dynamic,  masculine  type.  He  does  not  possess 
qualities  of  leadership  except  in  purely  intel- 
lectual matters.  In  a  company  of  men  of  affairs 
Air.  B.  would  be  the  least  among  them.  In  a  com- 
pany of  scholars,  though,  he  would  stand  high. 

He  is  not  pleased  with  the  way  his  boys  are 
developing,  and  he  is  constantly  complaining 
about  their  work  and  their  behavior.  He  prob- 
ably never  sees  them  without  upbraiding  them. 
He  would  not  think  of  going  on  a  hike  with  them. 
He  has  no  interest  in  such  things,  and  he  could 
not  succeed  in  them  anyway.  People  laugh  at 
him  when  they  see  him  trying  to  do  anything 
athletic.  So  far  as  his  boys  are  concerned  he  is 
a  neutral  type.  They  have  not  reached  the  stage 


THE  ROLE  OF  THE  FATHER  177  \ 

where  they  are  impressed  by  his  scholarship.  His 
personality  is  mainly  negative;  and  really  about 
the  only  interest  his  boys  now  have  in  him  is  that 
he  is  the  source  of  their  income. 

It  is  hard  to  say  it,  but  the  failure  of  these 
boys  to  make  good  is  due  mainly  to  the  neutral 
personality  of  their  father.  He  cannot  under- 
stand why  they  do  not  appreciate  the  advantages 
they  have  in  their  excellent  home.  He  feels,  too, 
that  they  are  unappreciative  of  his  accomplish- 
ments. They  are,  because  what  he  has  done  and 
is  now  doing  is  not  dynamic  and  dramatic  enough 
to  make  an  appeal  to  them.  This  greatly  dis- 
tresses and  irritates  the  father. 

Most  men  possessing  Mr.  B's  physical  and 
temperamental  characteristics  cannot  exert  a 
strong  influence  in  the  lives  of  their  sons.  They 
cannot  lead  them,  so  they  often  attempt  to  drive 
them,  and  they  fail  in  nine  out  of  ten  cases ;  and 
the  more  they  complain  the  farther  away  their 
boys  grow  from  them.  If  such  a  father  could— 
frankly  recognize  his  handicap  in  physique  and 
dynamic  qualities,  and  if  he  could  arrange  it  so 
that  his  boys  would  come  under  the  leadership  of 
other  virile  men,  he  would  do  better  than  he  is 
now  doing  by  them.  In  time  the  boys  would  grow 
to  appreciate  their  father's  abilities,  qualities, 
and  devotion  to  their  welfare,  and  they  would  be 
likely  to  follow  his  instructions.  Such  a  father 
should  proceed  on  the  principle  that  boys  are 


178  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

influenced  mainly  by  masculine  types  of  men  and 
by  generous  good  fellowship  which  ordinarily 
goes  with  an  impressive  stature. 

A  Still  Different  Type. — Here  is  a  third  type 
of  father:  Mr.  C.  is  a  prominent  statesman.  He 
is  not  over  five  feet  five  inches  in  height.  But 
his  lack  in  stature  is  more  than  offset  by  his 
powerful  voice  and  impressive  features  and  bear- 
ing. Despite  his  handicap  in  stature  he  is  a  leader 
among  men.  Everything  about  him  is  thoroughly 
masculine,  and  he  has  followers  wherever  he  goes. 
He,  too,  has  a  family  of  boys,  and  they  are  his 
best  friends.  They  go  with  him  on  his  travels,  and 
he  is  their  hero.  He  can  sway  great  multitudes  of 
men  by  his  oratory  and  his  dynamic  personality, 
and  this  has  deeply  influenced  his  sons.  They  emu- 
late him  in  his  voice,  manner  and  other  character- 
istics, which  is  sufficient  evidence  that  he  is  their 
model.  While  he  is  much  like  Mr.  B.  in  physique, 
he  is  diametrically  opposite  from  him  in  his  mas- 
culinity, and  this  is  chiefly  why  he  has  gained  a 
firm  hold  on  his  boys,  and  has  guided  them  so 
much  better  than  has  Mr.  B. 

When  a  father  loses  his  sons  the  chances  are 
that  the  trouble  lies  with  him.  The  last  thing  he 
ought  to  do  is  to  complain  about  his  misfortune, 
and  especially  to  nag  the  boys.  If  he  cannot  do 
anything  better  he  must  at  least  grin  and  bear 
his  ill-luck.  But  lacking  the  qualities  of  a  leader 
of  boys  himself  he  can  usually  make  amends 


THE  ROLE  OF  THE  FATHER          179 

therefor  by  keeping  his  boys  in  contact  with  right- 
minded  men  who  are  natural  leaders. 

Fathers  as  Companions  of  Their  Boys. — 
Choose  at  random  a  hundred  college  boys,  nine- 
teen or  twenty  years  of  age,  and  listen  as  a  by- 
stander to  their  talk  about  their  home  relations. 
Some  of  them — a  minority — will  refer  to  their 
fathers  with  genuine  cordial  feeling.  These  boys 
think  of  their  fathers  as  comrades  and  chums, 
and  also  as  friends  and  advisers  in  time  of  need. 
But  the  majority  of  the  boys  will  not  speak  very 
affectionately  or  reverently  of  their  fathers.  The 
typical  boy  will  refer  to  his  father  as  "the  old 
man"  or  the  "governor,"  which  are  not  terms  of 
endearment.  The  boy  looks  upon  his  father  as 
the  provider  of  funds,  not  as  a  companion  or  a 
counsellor.  Such  a  boy  rarely  mentions  his  father 
except  to  tell  of  the  tales  he  has  to  fix  up  in  order 
to  get  some  "dough."  He  is  not  anxious  to  go 
liome  to  see  his  father ;  his  chief  concern  is  to  get 
checks  from  him  every  month. 

These  boys  who  do  not  manifest  warm  feeling 
for  their  fathers  usually  speak  more  considerately 
of  their  mothers.  They  do  not  refer  to  the 
mother  as  "the  old  woman."  They  often  say 
they  would  like  to  go  home  to  see  their  mothers. 
For  every  boy  who  is  anxious  to  have  a  visit 
with  his  "dad"  there  are  fifty  who  want  to  visit 
with  their  mothers. 

The  typical  father  does  not  play  an  important 


180          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

role  in  the  life  of  his  boys  except  in  regard  to 
money,  and  then  he  is  the  one  who  has  to  hold 
them  down.  Boys  have  confessed  that  they  have 
never  been  with  their  fathers  when  the  latter  have 
not  complained  about  money  matters,  or  wasteful- 
ness, idleness  and  dissipation.  The  relations  be- 
tween many  fathers  and  their  sons  concern 
finances  and  discipline  almost  wholly. 

Fathers  are  often  looked  upon  as  taskmasters 
and  policemen.  If  there  is  any  whipping  to  be 
done  in  many  homes  the  father  must  do  it  all. 
The  children  are  afraid  of  him ;  he  is  the  bugaboo 
of  the  place.  They  do  not  think  of  him  as  a  play- 
fellow and  a  good  sport,  but  only  as  a  disciplin- 
arian. The  mother  often  represents  the  father  to 
the  children  as  a  bloodthirsty  individual;  she 
says  that  if  they  do  not  behave  the  father  will 
make  them  smart  for  it  when  he  gets  home.  When 
there  is  any  expression  of  affection  at  all  toward 
the  children  in  such  a  home  it  usually  comes  from 
the  mother.  When  a  boy  of  nineteen  or  twenty, 
then,  thinks  of  his  parents,  he  generally  thinks  of 
the  mother  as  generous  and  warm-hearted,  and 
his  father  as  cold,  stingy,  fault-finding  and  tyran- 
nical. 

There  Are  Exceptions. —  Fortunately,  there  are 
exceptions.  One  finds  boys  who  speak  of  their 
"dad"  as  they  would  of  an  intimate  companion. 
They  like  to  be  with  him,  because  they  have  a 
good  time  with  him.  They  fish  with  him,  hunt 


THE  ROLE  OP  THE  FATHER  181 

with  him,  go  off  on  hikes  with  him,  joke  with  him; 
in  short  they  are  chums  together.  In  such  cases 
the  financial  and  disciplinary  aspects  of  the 
father  are  decidedly  subordinated  to  his  genial 
and  companionable  qualities. 

As  a  rule,  the  attitude  of  the  girl  toward  her 
father  is  different  from  that  of  the  boy.  Take  a 
hundred  university  girls  chosen  at  random  and 
most  of  them  will  spe£k  fondly  of  their  fathers. 
American  fathers  are  more  kindly  and  generous 
toward  their  daughters  than  toward  their  sons. 
"Dad"  will  not  complain  of  his  daughter's  ex- 
penses., He  will  not  discipline  her  except  gently 
for  anything  she  may  do.  Indeed,  he  will  often 
defend  her  against  her  mother's  criticisms.  The 
typical  father  has  a  sort  of  chivalric  relation  to- 
ward his  daughter.  He  is  more  considerate  of  her 
wishes  than  her  mother  is.  So  she  thinks  of  him 
as  a  good  fellow,  and  she  likes  him,  speaking  gen- 
erally. But  even  these  girls  who  have  a  loving 
attitude  toward  their  fathers  often  remember  the 
strain  and  stress  in  the  home  resulting  from  the 
father's  efforts  to  keep  down  the  expenditures  of 
his  family  and  to  discipline  the  boys  for  their  lack 
of  earnestness  and  industry. 

The  majority  of  American  families  are  so  con- 
ducted that  the  children  are  away  from  home 
much  of  the  time  at  the  houses  of  their  friends, 
or  at  social  gatherings,  or  they  are  entertaining 
their  friends.  It  is  becoming  ever  more  difficult 


182  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

for  a  father  to  see  his  family  together  and  have 
them  to  himself.  So  a  large  proportion  of  chil- 
dren see  more  of  and  know  more  about  their 
neighbors  than  they  do  their  father.  About  the 
only  time  they  have  intimate  relations  with  him 
is  when  they  want  to  make  a  "  touch/'  The  events 
of  every-day  life  are  not  talked  over  by  the  father 
with  his  children  to  any  extent  in  the  typical 
American  home  to-day.  In  short,  the  father  is 
living  one  kind  of  life,  and  his  family  are  living 
a  quite  different  kind.  The  only  points  of  contact 
between  them  relate  to  money  and  discipline. 
Happily  this  is  not  true  of  every  home ;  it  is  be- 
coming true,  though,  of  a  constantly  increasing 
proportion  of  homes. 

One  Way  to.  Remedy  the  Evil. —  How  can  a 
father  avoid  having  only  monetary  and  punitive 
relations  with  his  children?  First  of  all  he  must 
establish  a  financial  system  in  his  home  which 
will  prevent  incessant  conflict  about  money.  He 
must  establish  a  budget  system.  Even  the  man 
who  has  such  abundant  means  that  it  is  of  no 
financial  consequence  what  his  family  spend  or 
how  they  spend  it  cannot,  as  a  rule,  endure  to  see 
his  sons  squandering  money  to  their  own  de- 
struction; and  not  infrequently  in  homes  of 
wealth  there  is  constant  strain  and  stress  with 
ultimate  alienation  between  fathers  and  sons  be- 
cause the  latter  go  to  excess  in  expenditure  of 
money,  which  usually  leads  to  the  acquisition  of 


THE  ROLE  OP  THE  FATHER  183 

vicious  habits  of  life  that  sooner  or  later  will 
bring  distress  upon  the  individual  and  all  who  are 
connected  with  him.  A  budget  system,  rigidly 
adhered  to,  would  often  be  the  means  of  eliminat- 
ing the  chief  source  of  conflict  between  a  wealthy 
father  and  his  children;  and  the  latter  would  be 
better  off  from  every  point  of  view  if  they  were 
required  to  adjust  their  expenses  to  a  definitely- 
fixed  allowance.  Men  of  means  sometimes  permit 
their  sons  to  go  to  their  cashier  or  banker  when- 
ever they  wish  and  draw  funds.  It  seems  as  if 
such  generosity  should  have  a  happy  outcome; 
but  it  is  only  a  matter  of  time  until  these  fathers 
begin  to  complain  of  their  sons'  wastefulness  and 
lack  of  understanding  of  the  value  of  money,  and 
also  their  inconsiderate  and  unappreciative  atti- 
tude. 

Women  do  not  readily  adapt  themselves  to  a 
budget  system.  Men  learn  by  hard  knocks  that 
the  only  way  to  run  an  institution,  the  home  or 
any  other,  is  on  a  plan  wherein  each  individual 
affected  knows  how  much  money  he  can  and  may 
spend  and  for  what  purposes ;  and  under  no  con- 
ditions can  he  go  beyond  this.  Women  do  not 
learn  this  lesson  as  readily  as  men  do  because 
they  have  more  hope  and  faith  that  somehow 
everything  will  come  out  right.  Women  trust  to 
luck  more  largely  than  men  do.  It  is  up  to  the 
father,  then,  no  matter  whether  his  income  is  a 
thousand  dollars  or  a  hundred  thousand,  to  estab- 


184  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

lish  early  in  his  family  a  budget  system  which 
must  prevail  no  matter  what  happens.  Once  the 
members  of  a  family  realize  that  they  can  depend 
upon  a  given  allowance  but  they  must  live  within 
this  allowance  they  will  get  along  more  happily 
than  when  there  is  no  understanding  about  the 
matter  and  they  keep  speculating  as  to  how  far 
they  dare  go,  and  as  to  what  chances  there  are  of 
their  increasing  their  resources  by  hook  or  by 
crook.  When  a  family  fall  into  the  habit  of  get- 
ting money  whenever  they  wish  by  teasing  or 
cajoling  or  hectoring  it  is  difficult  to  change  their 
methods ;  and  under  such  conditions  it  is  inevita- 
ble that  there  should  be  conflict  and  ill  feeling, 
and  the  father  will  be  regarded  as  the  tyrant  of 
the  home.  He  may  develop  into  a  chronic  cynic 
and  pessimist,  and  acquire  the  habit  of  saying  but 
little  to  the  members  of  his  family  except  in  com- 
plaint of  their  wastefulness. 

The  Father  as  a  Bread  Winner  Only. —  The 
finances  in  many  families  are  planned  on  the  as- 
sumption that  the  father  is  simply  and  solely  a 
bread-winner.  This  unhappily  is  one  of  the  most 
unlovely  phases  of  family  life  in  America.  The 
father  does  not  have  time  or  energy  to  be  a  chum 
with  any  member  of  his  family.  He  cannot  relax 
or  play  because  he  feels  the  pressure  all  the  time 
of  having  to  meet  the  bills  of  his  unreckoning  and 
pleasure-seeking  family.  And  they  show  little 
appreciation  of  his  efforts  because  they  do  not 


THE  ROLE  OF  THE  FATHER          185 

see  the  bread-winner  at  work.  He  leaves  his 
home  early  in  the  morning  and  does  not  return 
until  night-time.  .During  his  absence  the  family 
have  been  running  here  and  there,  doing  this  and 
that,  and  they  do  not  observe  any  difference  be- 
tween their  own  and  the  bread-winner's  day. 
And  if  the  latter  complains  about  his  labors  and 
his  sacrifices  he  makes  little  or  no  impression  on 
his  family ;  one  cannot  impress  persons  with  that 
which  they  know  nothing  about,  even  if  he  talks 
to  them  until  he  is  black  in  the  face.  Watch  a" 
typical  American  family  when  the  father  is  tell- 
ing them  about  what  he  has  been  up  against  dur- 
ing the  day  in  his  business.  They  wish  he  would 
hurry  up  and  get  through  so  they  can  talk  about 
the  day's  adventures  or  the  next  party  they  will 
attend.  And  a  father  need  not  expect  anything 
else,  so  long  as  he  and  his  family  have  little  in 
common,  and  he  has  no  time  for  the  cultivation 
of  friendships  and  chummy  relations  with  them, 
and  they  do  not  realize  that  he  is  making  every 
effort  to  provide  for  them. 

The  Bread-Winner  May  Become  a  Boor. —  And 
this  leads  up  to  another  matter  of  consequence. 
University  boys  sometimes  speak  of  their  fathers 
in  a  tone  which  indicates  that  the  latter  are  not 
presentable  in  up-to-date  society,  because  their 
clothes,  their  speech  and  their  manners  have  been, 
formed  under  rather  rough  and  commercial  con- 
ditions. As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  typical  Ameri- 


186  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

can  father  who  is  working  his  head  off  so  that  his 
family  may  keep  up  with  the  procession  does  not 
have  leisure  or  energy  sufficient  to  keep  pace  with 
them  in  dress  or  manners  or  general  up-to-date- 
ness. 

The  mother  goes  to  clubs,  to  lectures  and  to 
social  and  art  meetings  for  general  improvement, 
but  the  father  goes  to  nothing  of  the  sort.  Sooner 
or  later  he  gets  to  be  looked  upon  as  more  or  less 
of  a  boor,  which  he  often  is.  He  is  just  a  money- 
Better;  he  has  made  the  mistake  of  letting  his 
/family  acquire  all  the  social  graces  while  he  has 
paid  the  price. 

Many  American  men  realize  that  they  are  only 
machines  running  at  full  capacity  to  produce  dol- 
lars for  their  families.  When  one  listens  to  their 
talk  he  can  tell  that  they  feel  they  are  not  appre- 
ciated. This  tends  to  make  them  cranky  and  dis- 
agreeable in  their  homes.  So  it  comes  about  that 
many  a  man  who  is  devoting  all  his  energies  to 
making  his  family  comfortable  does  not  receive 
any  affection  or  consideration  from  those  for 
whom  he  labors,  simply  because  in  their  presence 
he  is  sour,  taciturn,  fault-finding,  irascible.  We 
cannot  have  affection  for  this  kind  of  person,  no 
matter  how  much  money  he  earns  for  us.  So  you 
fathers  who  have  read  through  to  this  point,  you 
would  have  a  better  status  in  your  own  families 
if  you  spent  less  of  your  energy  in  making  money 
and  more  of  it  in  making  friends  with  your  wife 


THE  ROLE  OF  THE  FATHER  187 

and  your  children  and  being  agreeable  in  their 
presence. 

Expensive  Luxuries  Usually  Disrupt  a  Family. 
—  Here  is  an  illustration.  A  father  thought  he 
would  be  conferring  a  favor  upon  his  family,  con- 
sisting of  his  wife  and  three  children,  if  he  would 
buy  an  expensive  automobile.  He  reasoned  that 
it  would  be  a  means  of  keeping  the  family  to- 
gether, and  he  thought  they  would  certainly  be 
appreciative  of  his  generosity  and  self-sacrifice. 
But  as  it  has  worked  out  the  automobile  is  an 
additional  cause  of  conflict.  The  children  wish 
to  use  it  much  of  the  time  for  the  pleasure  of  their 
friends  and  themselves.  The  father  has  to  work 
harder  to  provide  for  the  up-keep  of  the  thing. 
Instead  of  seeing  more  of  his  family  he  sees  less 
of  them  than  he  did  formerly.  Instead  of  their 
being  thankful  for  his  devotion,  they  are,  if  any- 
thing, less  appreciative,  because  they  are  in  a 
different  kind  of  life  altogether.  Only  a  very 
small  part  of  their  thoughts  and  feelings  have 
any  relation  to  the  father.  They  are  so  obsessed 
by  their  own  enterprises  and  pleasures  that  the 
thought  of  self-sacrifice  for  them  on  the  part  of 
anyone  rarely,  if  ever,  enters  their  heads. 

The  Father  Must  Grin  and  Bear  It. —  But  no 
matter  how  deeply  a  man  may  feel  about  the  ex- 
travagance and  indifference  of  his  family  he 
ought  at  any  rate  to  keep  his  poise  and  hold  in 
check  a  sarcastic  or  critical  tongue.  Out  in  the 


188         THE  TREND  OP  THE  TEENS 

world  a  man  learns  inhibition.  He  soon  discovers 
that  he  cannot  give  way  to  every  impulse  which 
stirs  within  him.  Women  are  more  mobile  and 
volatile,  and  so  less  inhibited  than  men.  A  woman 
cannot  help  but  give  way  to  her  deeper  feelings. 
But  the  man  can  help  it,  and  he  ought  to  help  it. 
If  he  cannot  preserve  poise  in  his  family,  then 
there  is  certain  to  be  strain  and  stress.  If  he 
does  not  like  the  way  matters  are  going  he  cannot 
remedy  the  situation  by  flaring  up.  When  a 
father  loses  his  head  in  dealing  with  the  mem- 
bers of  his  family  he  will  at  the  same  time  cer- 
tainly lose  their  respect  and  admiration. 

Finally,  a  father  should  avoid  gaining  the  repu- 
tation of  being  merely  a  pain-giver  in  his  family. 
He  should  resist  having  the  administration  of  all 
penalties  put  off  on  him.  He  might  better  let 
some  deserved  punishments  go  altogether  than  to 
develop  in  his  children  the  conviction  that  his 
chief  function  is  to  give  them  pain.  For  every 
occasion  that  he  makes  a  child  feel  unpleasant  he 
should  make  him  feel  happy  at  least  ten  times.  A 
father  should  become  established  in  his  children's 
thoughts  and  feeling  as  the  chief  source  of  their 
pleasure,  of  their  good  times,  of  cheerfulness  and 
of  laughter.  In  short,  he  should  be  thought  of  as 
a  good  scout  rather  than  as  the  cause  of  disap- 
pointment and  tears. 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  YOUTH 

Democracy  in  Dealing  with  the  Young. —  As 
these  lines  are  being  written,  the  United  States 
is  engaged  in  a  mighty  conflict  with  autocracy.1 
We  are  determined  to  continue  the  struggle  until 
the  world  is  set  free  from  domination  by  self- 
constituted  tyrants.  We  are  committed  to  a  de- 
fense of  the  policy  that  men  and  women  every- 
where must  be  free  to  think  and  to  work  as  they 
choose  in  so  far  as  they  do  not  trespass  on  the 
rights  of  their  fellows.  That  form  of  govern- 
ment in  which  a  few  impose  their  will  arbitrarily 
upon  others  is  passing;  no  man  or  group  of  men 
can  much  longer  continue  by  divine  right  or  any 
other  right  to  domineer  over  their  fellows. 
America  will  help  to  establish  the  rule  through- 
out the  world  that  every  man,  woman  and  child  is 
entitled  to  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happi- 
ness uncontrolled  and  unrestricted  by  others  so 
long  as  he  plays  the  game  fair,  and  orders  his  life 
in  accordance  with  rules  of  right  and  justice 
which  will  be  binding  upon  all  alike. 

These  principles  which  we  are  attempting  to 

189 


190          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

have  established  throughout  the  world  deserve  ^ 
recognition  as  well  in  the  home  as  in  the  state.  ; 
/Every  home  in  which  there  are  adults  and  chil- 
dren is  or  should  be  a  miniature  state.    The  ques- 
tion of  freedom  of  thought  and  action  is  just  as 
vital  and  pressing  in  the  home  as  it  is  in  the  state. 
Problems  of  privileges,  rights,  duties  and  respon- 
sibilities come  up  for  consideration  every  day  in 
most  homes  where  young  people  are  developing. 

The  typical  parent  is  not  democratic  in  the 
treatment  of  his  children.  He  likes  to  govern  by 
mandate  or  exhortation.  He  dogmatically  asserts, 
his  views  on  every  question  that  arises,  and  in- 
sists that  he  knows  more  than  his  children,  and  he 
has  little  respect  for  their  "  notions. "  One  can 
listen  to  a  parent  telling  his  thirteen-year-old  boy, 
say,  what  kind  of  cap  he  must  wear,  and  how  and 
when  he  must  wear  it,  though  the  boy  says  the 
other  boys  will  ' '  snicker ' '  at  him,  and  he  does  not 
want  to  be  "the  goat"  of  the  crowd.  But  the 
parent  will  listen  to  no  argument;  he  says  he 
knows  better  than  the  boy  does  what  the  latter 
should  do,  and  he  does  not  care  what  the  "other 
boys"  think. 

The  Chief  Cause  of  Conflict  Between  Parents 
and  Children. —  Much  of  the  conflict  between 
parents  and  children  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
former  do  not  recognize  the  right  of  the  latter  to 
express  opinions  contrary  to  their  own  on  any 
question  or  problem  whatsoever.  One  can  hear 


THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  YOUTH  191 

such  a  parent  say:  "I  will  teach  you  to  obey. 
When  your  opinions  are  wanted,  I  will  ask  for 
them/'  and  so  on.  Many  of  Dickens'  books  were 
written  to  expose  and  condemn  this  autocratic, 
domineering,  tyrannical  attitude  of  parents  to- 
ward their  children. 

Nature  has  implanted  in  everyone,  whether 
child  or  adult,  a  passion  to  be  free  from  domina- 
tion by  others.  A  normal  human  being,  after  the 
period  of  infancy  at  any  rate,  tenaciously  resists 
those  who  arbitrarily  attempt  to  rule  him. 
Nature  says  to  him:  "Be  independent;  assert 
your  rights;  do  not  let  your  individuality  be  de- 
stroyed by  any  domineering  person." 

In  some  homes  parents  never  ask  children  what 
they  think  in  regard  to  any  problem  of  conduct. 
They  say:  "Do  this"  or  "Do  that."  They  do 
not  say:  "What  shall  we  do  about  this  or  about 
that?"  "Is  it  right  or  best  to  do  so  and  so?" 

Fortunately  the  number  of  homes  in  which  the 
life  is  conducted  on  a  democratic  plan  is  increas- 
ing. Mary  Roberts  Rhinehart  has  recently  told 
the  story  of  her  own  home  life.  She  says  that 
practically  every  problem  affecting  anyone  in  the  N 
home  is  discussed  by  the  parents  and  the  children 
together,  and  the  best  solution  offered  by  any 
member  of  the  family  is  the  one  accepted.  In 
such  a  home  quite  young  children  will  generally 
see  that  the  views  of  their  parents  are  sounder 
than  their  own,  and  they  will  accept  and  follow 


192  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

them ;  but  they  are  likely  to  resist  mere  autocratic 
commands  when  there  has  been  no  discussion  of 
what  is  the  proper  course  to  take  in  any  situation. 

The  Democratic  Way  Is  the  Happiest  Way. — 
A  parent  who  has  not  tried  to  solve  problems  of 
conduct  by  discussion  with  his  children  has  not 
governed  them  in  the  best  way.  Again,  a  parent 
who  has  not  learned  to  restrain  his  own  views  on 
questions  affecting  members  of  the  family  while 
he  listens  to  the  views  of  his  children  has  missed 
the  greatest  pleasure  to  be  derived  from  being  a 
parent.  Any  one  who  is  not  an  autocrat  will  find 
only  delight  in  observing  how  his  children's 
minds  work  on  the  difficulties  which  are  encoun- 
tered in  the  management  of  the  home.  He  will 
be  exhilarated  when  he  sees  how  their  views  en- 
large every  day  as  they  develop,  and  how  they 
gradually  bring  their  selfish  desires  under  control 
so  that  they  can  appreciate  and  observe  principles 
of  right  and  justice  and  fair  play  themselves,  and 
insist  upon  others  observing  them.  A  parent  who 
is  a  bully  never  can  gain  an  insight  into  his  chil- 
dren's thoughts  about  conduct,  and  so  he  can 
never  know  what  fine  sport  it  is  to  be  a  parent. 

A  monarchical  form  of  government  is  just  as 
objectionable  in  the  home  as  it  is  in  the  state. 
Here  in  America  we  should  apply  the  principles 
of  democracy  to  the  home  more  than  has  been 
done  in  any  other  country.  This  does  not  mean 
that  young  and  immature  children  ^Hould  deter- 


THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  YOUTH  193 

mine  the  way  in  which  the  home  should  be  man- 
aged ;  but  it  does  mean  that,  increasingly  as  they 
develop,  they  should  be  encouraged  to  express 
their  opinions  on  every  problem  relating  to  the 
internal  workings  of  the  home  and  its  relation  to 
the  other  homes  of  the  community.  This  kind  of  S 
government  will  tend  to  make  children  reason- 
able ;  it  will  develop  self-restraint,  and  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  home  will  be  made  more  cheerful 
thereby.  It  will  have  other  advantages,  too,  be- 
cause the  views  of  the  children  in  regard  to  the 
relation  of  the  home  to  other  homes  in  the  com- 
munity will  often  be  sounder  than  the  views  of 
the  parents  themselves. 

Children  who  were  still  in  their  teens 
have  been  heard  discussing  with  their  parents 
problems  concerning  the  adjustment  of  the  home 
to  community  practices,  and  the  views  of  the  chil- 
dren were  saner  than  those  of  the  parents  because 
they  were  more  intimately  in  touch  with  the  sen- 
timent of  the  community.  The  parents  retained 
the  views  they  had  formed  in  their  childhood  and 
were  out-of-date  when  they  were  debating  pres- 
ent-day matters  with  the  children.  Parents  have 
been  heard  dogmatically  telling  their  adolescent 
boys  and  girls  what  companions  they  should  culti- 
vate, how  they  should  dress  and  act,  what  studies 
they  should  take,  what  their  table  manners  should 
be,  and  so  on  ad  libitum;  and  it  would  have  been 
better  for  the  children  if  they  could  have  decided 


194  THE  TREND  OP  THE  TEENS 

these  matters  largely  in  their  own  way  after  dis- 
cussing them  with  the  parents. 

Youth  Is  Exuberant. —  But  some  parents  will 
say  "I  cannot  endure  to  hear  my  children  talk 
and  see  them  act  as  though  they  knew  more  about 
life  than  their  elders. ' '  But  a  parent '  should 
understand  that  young  children  are  exuberant  in 
their  self-assertion.  A  sensible  parent  will  not 
be  disturbed  by  this.  He  will  know  that  self- 
restraint  will  develop  with  age;  he  will  know, 
(further,  that  he  can  help  his  children  to  become 
[reasonable  only  as  he  allows  them  to  express 
[themselves  so  that  he  can  see  wherein  they  are 
[unreasonable.  Children  who  are  ruled  autocrat- 
ically may  keep  quiet ;  but  when  they  escape  from 
tyranical  control  they  are  likely  to  go  to  the  other 
extreme.  This  is  true  of  nations  as  it  is  of  indi- 
viduals. People  who  have  been  held  in  bondage 
go  to  all  lengths  in  disorder  when  they  are  re- 
leased, as  the  Eussian  revolution  now  in  progress 
(indicates;  but  people  who  live  under  democratic 
conditions  learn  how  to  regulate  their  actions. 
This  lesson  has  been  illustrated  hundreds  of  times 
in  the  history  of  the  world;  and  any  observant 
person  can  see  it  illustrated  in  the  homes  he 
knows. 

Respect  a  Child's  8  elf -Made  Programs. —  Many 
parents  think  a  boy  or  girl  should  never  have 
any  plans  which  should  be  respected  by  the 
parents,  and  this  is  the  cause  of  endless  difficul- 


THE  GOVERNMENT  OP  YOUTH  195 

ties,  as  the  following  instance  illustrates.  S.  D., 
a  boy  of  sixteen  years,  was  regarded  by  Ms 
parents  as  lazy  and  selfish.  He  would  not  gladly 
help  with  any  of  the  work  about  the  home.  His 
mother  was  in  the  habit  of  asking  him  to  do 
errands  and  sometimes  to  assist  with  the  house- 
work, but  he  never  responded  willingly  and  pleas- 
antly to  any  requests  for  his  assistance.  He  was 
rather  taciturn  and  he  seemed  to  have  a  chip  on 
his  shoulder  much  of  the  time. 

Away  from  his  home,  he  was  quite  jolly  and  he 
was  known  by  his  "pals"  as  a  good  fellow.  He 
could  talk  as  readily  as  any  of  his  companions 
and  he  enjoyed  visiting  with  them.  But  when- 
ever he  came  into  his  own  house  his  temper 
changed.  He  expected  that  some  task  would  be 
assigned  him  or  that  some  complaint  would  be 
lodged  against  him.  He  was  in  a  defensive  atti- 
tude against  his  faults  most  of  the  time.  This 
was  due  to  the  fact  that  his  mother  had  always 
been  in  the  habit  of  asking  him  to  do  chores  about 
the  house.  He  had  not  complied  with  her  requests 
readily  and  so  he  had  received  a  good  deal  of 
criticism.  As  a  consequence  he  had  developed  a 
rather  unfriendly,  surly  relation  toward  the  mem- 
bers of  his  family,  especially  his  mother  who  had 
been  his  chief  critic. 

A  year  ago  he  took  a  position  on  a  farm.  He 
began  his  work  in  April  and  continued  until  Octo- 
ber. He  did  a  man's  work,  so  his  employer  said. 


196         THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

He  was  up  before  five  in  the  morning  and  often 
in  the  field  before  half -past  six.  His  day's  work 
was  not  finished  until  seven  at  night.  He  worked 
on  this  plan  all  summer.  His  employer  states 
that  he  carried  out  this  strenuous  program  with- 
out complaint,  and  that  he  never  showed  anger  or 
hostility  when  he  was  asked  to  perform  any  task. 

When  he  returned  to  his  home  in  October  he 
was  in  a  different  frame  of  mind  than  wrhen  he  left 
in  the  spring.  His  sullen  attitude  had  disap- 
peared. He  was  cheerful,  good-humored,  talkative 
and  very  responsive  to  requests  for  his  assistance 
about  the  house.  The  constant  comment  of  the 
parents  was,  "The  boy  is  completely  changed. 
What  could  have  happened  to  him?" 

But  the  change  was  not  permanent.  It  lasted 
for  four  or  five  weeks,  and  then  he  began  to  slip 
backward.  His  conversation  in  the  home  gradu- 
ally declined  until  it  ceased  almost  completely. 
After  two  months  the  mother  observed  with  great 
regret  that  the  boy's  earlier  traits  had  again  be- 
come prominent,  and  she  could  not  understand 
why  he  had  not  retained  the  good  feeling  and 
cordial  attitude  toward  her  which  he  had  when 
he  returned  from  the  farm. 

The  Salutary  Influence  of  a  Regular  Program. 
—Here  is  the  explanation.  When  he  was  working 
on  the  farm  he  had  a  regular  daily  program  to 
follow.  He  knew  what  would  be  demanded  of  him 
each  day.  He  would  be  alone  in  the  fields  for 


THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  YOUTH  197 

hours  at  a  time  with  no  one  telling  him  to  do  this 
or  that  or  come  here  or  go  there.  Often  he  would 
follow  the  same  plan  of  work  for  weeks  and  his 
employer  would  not  need  to  give  him  any  direc- 
tions. In  brief,  he  lived  a  quiet,  regular  and  un- 
disturbed life  on  the  farm;  and  he  was  his  own 
boss  much  of  the  time.  So  there  was  very  little 
if  anything  to  irritate  him  or  offend  his  sense  of 
independence. 

But  when  he  returned  to  his  home  there  was  no 
regular  program  of  tasks  to  follow.  He  wished  to 
do  many  things  every  day  suggested  by  his  com- 
panions and  by  what  was  taking  place  in  his  en- 
vironment. He  wished  to  go  quite  frequently  to 
moving  picture  shows.  He  liked  often  to  walk  on 
the  streets  simply  studying  the  crowd;  he  was 
fascinated  by  the  stream  of  human  life  which  he 
could  observe  any  time  on  the  streets.  He  liked 
to  read  a  good  deal,  and  of  course  he  had  his 
tasks  in  school  to  perform.  But  his  mother  would 
break  into  his  plans  at  any  time  with  a  request 
that  he  should  do  an  errand  for  her.  She  never- 
considered  the  proper  time  to  make  her  request ; 
she  made  it  whenever  she  thought  of  it,  which 
was  often  when  the  boy  was  in  the  midst  of  an 
attractive  story  or  was  just  about  to  keep  an  en- 
gagement with  a  chum.  The  mother  acted  on  the 
theory  that  the  boy  had  no  obligations  which 
should  be  respected.  His  time  belonged  to  the 
family,  and  it  was  fitting  to  impose  a  task  upon 


198  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

him  at  any  moment.  This  irritated  him  and  in- 
evitably he  began  to  take  a  defensive  attitude 
against  the  incessant  interference  with  his  plans. 
He  developed  a  kind  of  self-protective  method 
against  his  mother  in  particular  and  against  all 
the  members  of  the  family  in  general.  It  was  a 
family  trait  for  one  member  not  to  take  any  ac- 
count of  the  plans  of  any  other  member  in  the 
matter  of  making  requests.  In  this  family  the 
mother  wras  chiefly  at  fault;  she  exercised  little 
or  no  self-restraint  in  the  issuing  of  commands  to 
the  members  of  the  family  and  especially  to  this 
boy.  The  more  indifferent,  resistant  and  even 
hostile  he  became,  the  more  requests  she  made  of 
him,  in  the  belief  that  if  she  did  not  keep  eternally 
at  him  he  would  develop  into  a  selfish,  mean  and 
disagreeable  man. 

Avoiding  Irritation  and  Conflict. —  Many 
parents  treat  children  as  though  they  had  no  right 
to  make  any  plans.  But  whether  or  not  they  have 
a  right  to  do  so,  they  surely  do  make  plans ;  and 
if  these  are  constantly  obstructed  they  will  de- 
velop irritability,  meanness,  and  resistance  to  re- 
quests and  authority  in  every  form.  The  typical 
parent  who  thinks  a  boy's  unwillingness  to  do 
chores  cheerfully  is  due  to  "natural  meanness " 
needs  to  appreciate  that  in  these  days  the  young 
have  their  days  crammed  so  full  of  attractive 
.activities  that  there  is  not  nearly  time  enough  to 
do  them  all  without  the  demands  of  parents  on 


THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  YOUTH  199 

the  little  leisure  that  is  left  after  school  hours  are 
taken  out.  There  are  the  interesting  happenings 
that  have  to  be  told  to  one 's  chums ;  there  are  the 
secrets  that  have  to  be  gone  over  together;  there 
are  the  games  that  must  be  played  with  one's 
fellows ;  and  there  are  the  curious  people,  curious 
places  and  the  new  things  of  the  neighborhood 
and  surrounding  territory  that  must  be  seen. 

Human  nature  is  so  constituted  that  any  one 
will  become  disagreeable  and  rebellious  toward 
those  who  are  always  upsetting  his  plans.  This 
is  not  to  say,  of  course,  that  children  should  not 
have  any  tasks  to  perform  about  the  home.  They 
should  have  some  chores,  but  they  ought  to  un- 
derstand definitely  what  chores  they  have  to  do 
each  day  and  at  what  hour  they  must  attend  to 
them.  The  daily  program  should  not  be  varied 
except  under  very  unusual  conditions.  It  should 
be  the  aim  of  the  parents  to  bring  a  boy  as 
rapidy  as  possible  to  the  point  where  he  can  at- 
tend to  his  duties  without  supervision  or  direc- 
tion from  any  one.  The  moment  he  becomes  self- 
directive  he  will  perform  his  tasks  with  less  fric- 
tion than  when  he  is  supervised  by  parents  o 
anyone  else.  The  less  that  has  to  be  said  to  a 
boy  about  his  chores,  the  more  cheerfully  he  is 
likely  to  do  them.  It  is  not  so  much  the  work,  no 
matter  what  it  may  be,  which  is  likely  to  irritate 
a  boy;  it  is  the  presence  of  persons  who  talk  to 
him  incessantly  about  doing  it  properly.  Work 


200  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

does  not  usually  arouse  hostility  in  a  boy,  but 
those  who  direct  him  often  do. 

Let  the  Boy  Try  His  Wings. —  One  who  has 
read  Dickens'  books  will  recall  that  several  of 
them  were  written  for  the  purpose  of  inducing 
parents  and  school  masters  to  give  the  young  per- 
sons in  their  charge  greater  freedom  of  action 
than  they  were  allowed  in  the  author's  day.  The 
lot  of  children,  boys  especially,  was  a  hard  one  in 
England  in  Dickens'  time.  The  maxim  that  a 
young  person  should  be  seen  and  not  heard  was 
followed  religiously.  Parents  and  school  masters 
treated  the  young  as  though  they  had  no  rights 
to  speak  of.  They  were  always  to  do  as  they 
were  bid.  They  were  always  to  serve  and  were 
not  to  expect  service  in  return.  In  the  presence 
of  adults  they  were  to  be  humble  and  subservient. 
They  were  never  to  offer  their  opinion  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  opinion  of  a  parent  or  a  teacher.  They 
were  not  to  suggest  what  they  would  like  to  do; 
they  were  to  ask  what  was  the  pleasure  of  those 
in  authority  that  they  should  do. 
I  The  lines  of  the  young  in  America  have  fallen 
in  pleasanter  places.  They  enjoy  freedom  of  ac- 
tion which  is  unknown  to  children  in  most  foreign 
countries.  Their  individuality  is,  speaking  gen- 
erally, recognized  and  respected,  which  was  not 
the  case  in  Dickens'  time  in  England,  and  is  not 
the  case  now  in  most  European  countries.  As  a 
consequence,  children  are  happier  here  than  they 


THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  YOUTH  201 

are  in  any  other  country,  and  there  is  less  con- 
flict between  parents  and  teachers  on  the  one 
side  and  children  on  the  other. 

But  there  are  American  parents  who  in  dealing 
with  their  children  pursue  the  policy  which  was 
followed  in  Dickens'  time.  That  is  to  say,  they 
treat  them  as  though  their  opinions  were  entitled 
to  no  consideration.  They  order  them  to  do  this 
and  not  to  do  that.  When  a  child,  a  boy  espe- 
cially, suggests  that  he  would  like  to  do  a  certain 
thing,  that  is  the  very  thing  which  he  cannot  be 
permitted  to  do.  Unfortunately,  such  parents 
usually  think  they  ought  to  keep  their  boys  always 
under  their  eye  and  hand  so  that  they  can 
train  them  in  good  habits.  A  concrete  instance 
will  illustrate  the  methods  pursued  by  these 
fathers. 

A  Concrete  Instance  of  Parental  Autocracy. — 
A  boy  eighteen  years  of  age,  living  on  a  farm  in 
a  middle-western  state,  wished  to  attend  a  col- 
lege in  the  eastern  part  of  the  country.  Two  boys 
that  he  knew  had  attended  the  college  and  had 
given  him  a  glowing  description  of  the  institution. 
He  was  a  faithful  boy  and  a  good  worker.  He 
liked  occasionally  to  go  to  near-by  towns  and  see 
the  life  on  the  street,  and  he  had  three  or  four 
girl  friends  whom  he  visited  once  in  a  while.  His 
father  thought  this  was  evidence  that  he  was  not 
very  serious-minded;  and  he  concluded  that  he 
would  have  to  be  trained  pretty  rigorously  in 


202         THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

order  that  he  might  take  charge  of  the  farm  later 
on.    So  his  father  kept  a  tight  rein  on  him.    He 
lectured  the  boy  a  good  deal  about  application  to 
business,  and  when  the  latter  made  the  request 
to  go  to  the  eastern  college  the  father  would  not 
listen  to  him.     There  is  a  little  one-horse  college 
about  sixty  miles  from  where  the  boy  lives,  and 
the  father  told  him  that  if  he  would  attend  strictly 
to  business  and  do  a  full  day's  work  on  the  farm 
every  working  day  during  the  summer  he  might 
be  permitted  to  have  a  few  months  at  the  college 
in  the  winter.    The  father  maintained  that  in  tak- 
ing this  course  he  was  doing  the  boy  a  real  favor. 
It  was  suggested  to  the  father  that  it  would  be 
a  means  of  grace  for  every  one  concerned  if  the 
boy  could  go  a  long  ways  from  home  and  stay 
away  for  nine  or  ten  months.    He  needed  to  get 
out  into  the  world  and  learn  how  to  adapt  himself 
to  people.    It  was  represented  to  the  father  that 
when  the  boy  came  back  to  the  farm  he  would  fit^ 
into   the  situation  better  than  if  he  were  kept 
tethered  at  home  constantly.     The  father  replied 
that  if  the  boy  went  to  the  eastern  college  he 
would  have  to  earn  every  cent  he  would  need  for 
his  trip  and  education.    One  can  hear  the  boy  say 
now  that  his  father  is  "  grumpy "  much  of  the 
time.    For  days  at  a  stretch  they  do  not  have  much 
to  say  to  each  other.    The  father  is  on  the  offen- 
sive and  the  boy  is  on  the  defensive.    The  other 
members  of  the  family  feel  the  strain  and  stress 


THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  YOUTH  203 

developing  between  father  and  son.  This  will  go 
on  from  bad  to  worse  the  longer  they  have  to 
associate  with  one  another.  The  more  they  see  of 
each  other  while  they  are  in  their  present  state 
of  mind,  the  more  antagonistic  they  will  become. 

When  a  Boy  Should  Leave  Homo. —  If  the 
father  were  wise  he  would  encourage  the  boy  to 
go  to  college  and  he  would  provide  a  reasonable 
fund  for  his  maintenance.  He  owes  it  to  the  boy 
for  one  thing ;  and  even  for  his  own  peace  of  mind 
he  should  do  so,  for  life  on  the  farm  would  be 
more  agreeable  when  the  boy  returned.  But  since 
the  father  is  unwilling  to  do  this  it  would  be 
better  for  the  boy  to  go  anyway  and  work  to  pay\  / 
his  own  expenses.  He  needs  to  get  away  from  V 
the  farm.  If  he  cannot  do  anything  else,  it  would 
be  better  for  him  to  work  on  another  farm  for  a 
while  than  to  remain  at  home.  If  he  should  stay 
away  long  enough  his  father  might  miss  him  and 
be  glad  to  have  him  back;  but  he  should  not  re- 
turn until  both  he  and  his  father  think  better  of 
one  another  than  they  do  now. 

The  father  is  clearly  at  fault  in  this  particular 
case.  He  is  hedging  his  boy  about  with  needless 
restrictions  and  he  is  hypercritical.  If  he  would 
say  to  his  boy:  "I  am  quite  willing  you  should 
go  to  college  or  any  other  place  if  you  wish  to; 
you  have  worked  faithfully  here  and  I  will  give 
you  as  much  money  as  I  can  spare;  you  may  stay 
until  you  feel  that  you  would  like  to  come  home, ' ' 


204  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

— if  he  would  say  something  like  this  in  a  good 
spirit  he  would  put  his  boy  in  the  right  frame  of 
mind.  The  boy  might  venture  out  into  the  world, 
but  he  would  probably  be  glad  to  come  back  again 
feeling  more  content  with  his  home  than  he  is  at 
present.  A  father  ought  to  suggest  to  his  boy 
that  he  go  out  into  the  world  when  the  latter 
seems  to  be  dissatisfied  about  the  home.  The  boy 
should  be  given  the  impression  that  the  father  is 
not  trying  to  restrict  his  freedom.  Boys  would 
not  run  away  from  home  as  they  so  frequently  do 
if  they  felt  that  their  parents  were  willing  to  give 
them  considerable  leeway. 

Finally,  parents  should  remember  that  nature 
has  worked  on  the  plan  of  having  the  young 
leave  the  home  nest  early.  When  birds  reach  a 
certain  age  they  are  seized  with  a  passion  to  leave 
the  nest  and  not  to  return  to  it.  Young  animals 
are  always  eager  to  leave  the  locality  in  which 
they  were  born  and  seek  out  new  fields.  So  it  is 
with  human  beings,  boys  especially.  Nature  evi- 
dently intends  that  families  should  not  hold  to- 
gether too  tenaciously.  She  wishes  the  members 
of  one  family  to  intermingle  with  the  members  of 
other  families.  Only  in  this  way  could  society 
have  been  developed.  So  it  is  inevitable  that  a 
normal  boy  should  wish  to  try  his  wings  and 
parents  should  not  clip  them. 

Loosening  Home  Ties. —  Many  parents  cannot 
bear  to  have  a  child  of  any  age  leave  home  unless 


THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  YOUTH  205 

they  accompany  him.  They  fear  that  some  harm 
may  come  to  him  or  he  may  -become  lonely  in 
strange  places  or  he  may  suffer  from  homesick- 
ness. Such  parents  are  always  worrying  about  a 
child  when  he  is  out  of  their  sight.  They  look 
after  his  needs  so  continuously  at  home  that  they 
feel  something  has  dropped  out  of  their  lives 
when  they  do  not  have  him  where  they  can  serve 
him. 

A  child  brought  up  in  this  way  is  apt  to  remain 
dependent  for  life  upon  his  parents  or  someone 
else.  He  looks  to  them  or  to  others  to  smooth  out 
the  hard  places  for  him.  He  does  not  gain  ex- 
perience in  meeting  people  and  adjusting  himself 
to  them.  When  friends  call  at  the  house  and  the 
boy  is  present  the  mother  or  father  is  likely  to  do 
his  talking  for  him.  If  he  is  asked  a  question 
about  how  he  likes  his  school,  for  example,  the 
parents  and  not  the  boy  make  the  chief  reply.  It 
is  not  uncommon  to  find  parents  who  make  prac- 
tically all  the  responses  for  their  children.  The 
latter  sit  silent  and  helpless  while  the  parents 
talk  for  them  and  even  think  for  them.  Of 
course,  there  is  no  reason  why  a  child  should  de- 
velop resourcefulness  and  initiative  in  conversing 
or  doing  anything  else  when  his  parents  act  for 
him.  If  he  wishes  to  secure  a  job,  for  instance, 
the  father  will  probably  make  the  application  for 
him.  If  he  is  required  to  send  information  about 
himself  the  mother  will  be  likely  to  furnish  it  in- 


206  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

stead  of  requiring  him  to  attend  to  the  matter. 
One  could  not  think  of  a  better  program  than  this 
to  make  an  individual  incompetent,  and  in  the  end 
discontented  and  uninteresting. 

When  children  who  have  always  leaned  on  their 
parents  are  compelled  to  leave  home  they  are  gen- 
erally overcome  with  homesickness.  The  world 
seems  a  cold,  bitter  place  to  them ;  and  the  people 
they  meet  appear  to  be  unsympathetic,  unfriendly 
and  indifferent.  The  world  does  not  return  to  an 
individual  more  than  it  receives  from  him;  and 
one  who  has  got  into  the  habit  of  expecting  that 
he  will  always  be  served  without  rendering  serv- 
ice will  have  a  hard  row  to  hoe.  He  will  think 
people  are  mean,  selfish  and  uncharitable  when 
he  is  solely  responsible  for  their  attitude  toward 
him. 

Make  Children  Independent  of  Parents  and 
Home. —  The  moral  is  that  parents  should  begin 
quite  early  to  make  their  children  independent  of 
them.  Mothers  and  fathers  ought  to  subdue  the 
parental  instinct  to  do  everything  for  their  off- 
spring and  to  tether  them  closely  to  their  home. 
When  a  child  reaches  the  teens  he  should  be  able 
^to  go  away  from  home  for  considerable  periods 
without  experiencing  homesickness  or  loneliness 
or  lack  of  self-confidence.  He  should  be  fond  of 
his  father  and  mother,  of  course,  but  he  should 
not  be  so  dependent  upon  them  for  service  or  for 
friendship  that  he  is  miserable  and  helpless  when 


THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  YOUTH  207 

they  are  not  within  calling  distance.  From  one 
point  of  view  the  less  a  child  thinks  about  his 
home  when  he  is  away  from  it  the  better  prepared 
he  is  to  meet  the  problems  which  he  will  en- 
counter in  the  world.  This  does  not  mean  that  he 
should  not  have  affection  for  his  father  and 
mother  and  brothers  and  sisters.  He  certainly 
should  have.  But  this  affection  should  not  be  so 
intense  that  it  will  be  the  cause  of  his  undoing 
when  he  cannot  be  with  the  members  of  his  family. 

It  sometimes  happens  that  an  almost  abnormal 
attachment  develops  between  a  father  and  daugh- 
ter and  a  mother  and  son.  Dr.  Barker,  of  .Johns 
Hopkins  University,  a  special  student  of  nervous 
disorders,  has  warned  parents  not  to  allow  too 
close  an  attachment  to  develop  between  their 
children  and  themselves  because  it  may  become 
morbid.  A  daughter's  sentiments  should  not  be- 
come so  centered  upon  her  father  that  they  can- 
not be  detached  from  him  and  bestowed  upon 
some  other  man.  The  same  is  true  of  the  attach- 
ment of  the  son  to  his  mother.  The  latter  is  less 
likely  to  occur  than  the  former,  however. 

Self  Government  Among  Boys. —  When  boys 
reach  the  teens  they  should  be  given  experience 
in  governing  themselves.  We  can  gain  a  useful 
lesson  in  regard  to  this  matter  by  a  study  of  the 
English  Public  Schools  in  which  self  government 
is  developed  to  a  high  degree.  These  schools  are 
not  public  in  the  sense  in  which  the  schools  are  in 


208  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

this  country.  They  are  not  supported  at  public 
expense;  they  are  private  institutions  designed 
for  boys  alone.  They  charge  tuition,  and  they 
may  reject  any  applicant.  There  are  about  a 
hundred  of  these  schools  now  in  England.  Some 
of  them  date  back  several  centuries,  while  a  num- 
ber of  them  have  been  established  during  the 
present  century.  The  best  known  representatives 
of  these  Public  Schools  are  Eugby,  Eton,  and 
Harrow;  but  the  others  are  like  them  in  general 
characteristics.  Boys  enter  schools  of  this  type  at 
about  the  age  of  thirteen  and  remain  six  years 
or  more. 

The  chief  distinction  of  these  Public  Schools  is 
their  corporate  life.  They  are  essentially  self- 
governing  institutions.  The  youngest  members 
are  in  a  certain  sense  servants  to  the  older  ones. 
It  is  the  custom  for  an  older  boy  to  have  a 
younger  one  as  a  "fag"  who  will  serve  his  master 
in  any  way  that  the  latter  may  desire.  The  boys 
who  have  been  in  the  school  longest,  the  "sixth 
form"  boys,  constitute  the  rulers  of  the  school. 
The  teachers,  or  "masters"  as  they  are  called, 
are  not  the  disciplinarians  of  the  school  as  is  the 
case  in  this  country.  If  a  boy  is  guilty  of  a  mis- 
demeanor at  Eton,  say,  the  teachers  do  not  sit 
on  his  case  in  the  first  instance.  The  boys  them- 
selves take  it  up.  If  it  is  necessary  to  administer 
punishment,  they  do  it.  Of  course,  the  head- 
master and  his  associates  may  in  a  crisis  take  the 


re\ 
iie\ 


THE  GOVERNMENT  OP  YOUTH  209 

government  of  the  school  in  their  own  hands,  but 
this  rarely  occurs. 

The  Fagging  System. —  Those  who  have  read 
Tom  -Brown  of  Rugby  have  doubtless  formed  the 
notion  that  the  fagging  system  is  very  brutal.  It 
undoubtedly  was  severe  in  an  earlier  day,  but  it 
has  been  somewhat  modified  in  our  times.  Still 
the  principle  prevails  that  the  youngest  boys  must 
serve,  and  the  older  boys  must  rule. 

The  masters  live  with  their  pupils  in  a  moreN 
intimate  and  vital  way  than  do  the  teachers  in  the 
schools  of  this  country.     The  masters  and  the 
boys  constitute  a  community  together.    They  are 
sufficient  unto   themselves.     The   outside  world 
does  not  break  into  the  seclusion  of  these  schools 
to  any  appreciable  extent.    The  masters  and  the    v 
boys  form  intimate  associations  and  develop  a 
give-and-take  sort  of  life,  which  does  not  exist  in 
our  own  country,  at  least  not  in  our  public  schools. 
The   distractions    and   seductions    of   the   world  y . 
which  play  such  an  important  part  in  our  own/ 
schools  are  shut  out  of  the  English  schools.      / 

There  is  very  little  rivalry  for  social  prestige 
among  the  pupils  of  these  schools.  Ambition  and 
talent  are  exercised  principally  in  competition  for 
athletic  and  academic  honors.  The  atmosphere 
of  one  of  these  schools  is  surcharged  with  success 
in  examinations  and  athletics.  While  in  our  own 
schools  the  boy  or  girl  who  can  dance  best  or 
dress  the  most  elaborately  or  drive  the  most 


210  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

costly  automobile  is  often  distinguished  above  all 
the  other  pupils,  such  a  thing  would  be  impossible 
in  the  English  Public  Schools.  Even  when  the  son 
of  the  King  goes  to  Eton,  he  leaves  all  his  social 
distinctions  behind  him,  and  becomes  a  fag  the 
same  as  any  other  boy.  If  he  gets  ahead  at  all, 
it  must  be  because  of  his  being  better  than  other 
boys  in  athletics  or  in  examinations. 

Training  in  Government. —  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  these  schools  have  contributed  to  the 
development  of  the  British  Empire.  For  the 
most  part,  the  men  who  govern  the  Empire  have 
been  trained  in  Rugby,  Eton,  Harrow,  or  one  of 
the  other  schools  of  this  type.  It  can  be  seen  that 
the  organization  and  administration  of  these 
schools  assists  in  the  training  of  men  to  rule.  The 
sixth-form,  boy,  who  has  experience  in  governing 
the  school,  acquires  knowledge  which  will  be 
valuable  for  him  when  he  comes  to  play  the  role 
of  governor  of  India  or  Egypt  or  some  of  the 
other  English  dependencies. 

Our  own  schools  give  little  or  no  training  in 
government  in  the  sense  in  which  the  English 
I  Public  Schools  do.     The  nearest  approach  to  it 
v  in  this  country  is  in  military  academies  in  which 
"boys  possessing  ability  in  leadership  secure  posi- 
'  tions  as  officers  and  govern  the  cadets  in  the  insti- 
tutions.    There  is  less  scope,  however,  for  the 
governing  ability  of  boys  in  a  military  school  than 
in  a  school  like  Eton  or  Rugby,  because  in  the 


THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  YOUTH  211 

former  military  rule  prevails,  and  a  cadet  officer 
simply  enforces  the  established  rules.  But  while 
in  Eton  there  are  traditional  rules,  still  every 
case  possesses  certain  individual  characteristics 
which  must  be  investigated  and  weighed  in  deter- 
mining rewards  or  penalties. 

If  we  could  introduce  into  all  our  public  schools 
the  principles  of  self-government,  following  the\ 
English  method,  but  not  carrying  it  quite  so  far, 
it  would  certainly  prove  of  distinct  service.  It 
would  be  valuable  for  the  pupils  who  are  gov- 
erned as  well  as  for  those  who  govern  them. 
Pupils  have  more  regard  for  government  admin- 
istered by  their  own  representatives  than  they  do 
for  that  administered  by  teachers,  who  are  re- 
garded as  aliens  to  a  certain  extent,  and  their  rule 
is  resented.  Often  pupils  who  will  rebel  against 
a  penalty  set  by  a  school  principal  will  take  the 
same  thing  without  a  whimper  when  it  is  admin- 
istered by  a  court  composed  of  their  schoolmates. 

And  then  the  welfare  of  our  country  demands 
that  boys  who  possess  ability  to  govern  should 
have  a  chance  early  to  gain  practical  experience 
in  it.  It  would  be  of  service  to  any  community 
and  to  the  nation  if  we  had  an  effective  system  of 
selecting  out  the  leaders  among  the  boys  and  the 
girls,  too,  in  our  high  schools,  and  giving  them 
practical  training  in  administering  government  in 
an  intelligent,  equitable  and  effective  way.  This 
movement  is  already  started  in  some  places,  but 


212  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

it  ought  to  be  helped  along  in  every  community. 

Government  by  Nagging. —  Contrasted  with  the 
method  of  self-government  sketched  above  is  the 
method  of  nagging  still  employed  too  generally  in 
our  country.  This  method  is  illustrated  in  the 
case  of  a  certain  mother  who  chastises  her  boy  for 
his  misdeeds  by  ceaseless  upbraiding.  He  is  now 
fourteen  years  of  age,  and  his  father  has  not 
played  a  prominent  part  in  his  training.  Since  he 
was  three  years  of  age  the  mother  has  found  it 
necessary  to  correct  him  for  a  great  variety  of 
mischievous  actions  which  have  brought  trouble 
on  both  him  and  herself.  She  has  thought  that 
the  proper  way  to  deal  with  him  whenever  he 
was  detected  in  wrong-doing  was  to  try  to  make 
him  ashamed  of  his  conduct  so  that  he  would  do 
differently  in  the  future.  The  mother  has  a  high- 
pitched  voice,  and  she  gives  it  full  rein  whenever 
she  is  taking  her  boy  to  task  for  his  errors ;  and 
the  more  annoying  his  offense,  the  louder  her 
tones  of  admonition  and  criticism.  She  believes 
that  the  greater  the  crime  the  louder  should  be 
the  correction  thereof,  and  the  longer  should  be 
the  period  of  verbal  chastisement. 

One  may  often  hear  her  talking  to  the  boy  in 
this  strain:  "I  have  spoken  to  you  a  great  many 
times  about  this  matter.  I  have  told  you  how 
wrong  it  is  for  you  to  do  a  thing  like  this.  You 
ought  to  know  better.  You  have  had  good  oppor- 
tunities to  learn  what  is  right.  You  have  no  ex- 


THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  YOUTH  213 

cuse  for  your  actions.  You  say  you  ' forgot',  but 
that  is  no  excuse.  A  boy  of  your  age  and  your 
bringing  up  ought  not  to  forget.  If  you  had  the 
right  disposition  about  it,  you  would  not  forget. 
You  do  not  seem  to  have  any  sense  of  shame 
about  such  things.  You  do  not  see  other  boys  of 
your  age  and  training  doing  as  you  do.  I  can- 
not keep  talking  to  you  always  about  this,  and  if 
you  cannot  do  as  you  should,  I  will  see  that  you 
are  put  where  you  will  have  to  do  it.  I  have  been 
patient  with  you,  but  you  do  not  seem  to  appre- 
ciate or  care  about  what  I  do  for  you.  I  will  give 
you  warning  now  that  I  cannot  stand  this  much 
longer.  I  am  often  ashamed  for  you  because  you 
do  not  seem  to  have  any  sense  of  what  you  ought 
to  do." 

And  she  goes  on,  modifying  her  phrases  here 
and  there,  but  repeating  the  same  thoughts  over 
and  over  for  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  at  a 
stretch.  But  what  she  says  does  not  have  much 
if  any  effect  on  the  boy,  except  while  he  is  right 
before  her  and  listening  to  her  words  of  denun- 
ciation and  exhortation.  Five  minutes  after  he 
•  has  received  a  violent  scolding  he  appears  often 
to  have  forgotten  about  it,  and  he  is  as  light- 
hearted  and  mischievous  as  before.  The  mother's 
discipline  does  not  reach  his  springs  of  conduct 
and  control  his  action.  He  seems  now  to  be 
rather  hardened  to  these  verbal  castigations. 
Unfortunately,  this  boy  has  been  attending 


214  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

school  where  the  discipline  is  much  like  that  which 
has  been  used  by  his  mother.  The  teachers  in  the 
school  are  noisy  in  their  correction  of  pupils. 
Corporal  punishment  is  forbidden,  and  the  teach- 
ers feel  that  since  they  cannot  inflict  dermal  pain 
they  must  give  pupils  good  tongue  lashings  fre- 
quently. In  some  of  the  rooms  in  this  school  the 
teacher's  voice  is  used  much  of  the  time  in  telling 
pupils  of  their  faults  and  commanding  them  to 
mend  their  ways  or  they  will  come  to  grief.  It  is 
a  traditional  belief  in  the  school  that  a  good  dis- 
ciplinarian knows  how  to  talk  vociferously  and 
sharply  when  pupils  are  caught  in  any  kind  of 
wrong-doing.  In  the  springtime  when  the  win- 
dows are  open,  one  could  hang  around  in  the  little 
playground  attached  to  the  school,  and  he  could 
collect  a  choice  vocabularly  of  terms  of  reproach, 
condemnation  and  exhortation  issuing  from  most 
of  the  schoolrooms. 

A  Different  Method  of  Government. —  Glance 
now  at  a  different  method  of  training  practiced  in 
a  home  where  there  are  five  children,  two  girls 
and  three  boys.  The  father  is  a  supervising 
principal  of  a  school,  a  man  of  distinction,  but 
he  is  slight  of  body  and  his  boys  are  taller  and 
stronger  than  he  is.  At  first  glance  one  might 
suppose  he  would  be  deficient  as  a  disciplinarian ; 
but  as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  has  never  had  any  par- 
ticular trouble  in  controlling  boys  either  in  his 
home  or  in  the  schools  under  his  charge.  The 


THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  YOUTH  215 

reason  of  his  success  would  be  apparent  to  any 
one  who  might  have  an  opportunity  to  study  him 
before  his  pupils,  or  talking  to  his  own  children. 
He  is  a  man  of  few  words,  and  he  is  never  loud 
or  noisy.  When  he  has  in  hand  a  serious  problem 
in  correction,  he  grows  rather  more  quiet  than  he 
is  at  other  times.  He  chooses  his  words  with 
precision,  but  every  one  that  he  utters  seems  to 
go  straight  to  the  mark.  If  you  should  hear  him 
talk  you  would  feel  that  he  meant  a  great  deal 
more  than  he  said.  You  could  not  escape  the  con- 
viction that  what  he  proposed  to  do  was  to  act 
and  not  to  talk  about  any  matter  in  hand.  Usu- 
ally when  he  has  occasion  to  speak  to  a  school  by 
way  of  criticising  the  behavior  of  pupils,  one 
could  hear  a  pin  drop  anywhere  in  the  room- 
There  is  something  about  the  man  that  commands 
attention  and  respect,  and  nobody  ever  doubts 
that  he  intends  to  put  his  words  into  effect.  For- 
tunately for  him,  he  does  not  say  much,  and  so  he 
does  not  have  to  back  up  on  promises  and  threats 
which  he  might  not  be  able  to  carry  out. 

In  his  home  he  is  quiet  and  self -controlled  in 
his  discipline,  as  he  is  in  the  schoolroom.  The 
expression  of  his  eye  and  of  his  face  and  the  tone 
of  his  voice  carry  conviction.  He  deliberately  re- 
strains the  tendency  to  become  noisy  when  he  is 
dealing  with  a  serious  case  of  misconduct.  He 
has  discovered  that  it  is  not  loudness  of  voice  or 
an  agitated  manner  that  strikes  deeply  into  the 


216  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

-'• 

offender,  but  it  is  rather  the  suggestion  of  indig- 
nation accompanied  by  determination  to  put  an 
end  to  wrong  action  that  produces  a  salutary 
effect  upon  a  mischief  maker. 

Government  by  "Bawling  Out." — Mrs.  A.  is 
the  mother  of  four  children — a  son  and  three 
daughters.  The  oldest  girl  is  in  the  junior  year 
in  college.  She  has  made  a  brilliant  record  from 
the  time  she  was  in  the  kindergarten  until  the 
present.  When  the  mother  is  out  in  company  she 
speaks  with  pride  of  her  daughter's  ability  and 
she  enjoys  having  her  friends  praise  the  girl. 
But  when  she  is  at  home  she  complains  about  the 
girl's  lack  of  domestic  interests;  she  says  she 
never  does  anything  in  the  house  of  any  conse- 
quence. If  the  girl  tries  to  cook  anything,  say, 
the  mother  is  as  likely  as  not  to  tell  her  that  it  is 
all  wrong  and  that  she  cannot  do  anything  right. 
The  girl  has  a  gentle,  submissive  disposition  and 
humbly  endures  the  frequent  chiding.  The  mother 
often  mentions  the  girl's  domestic  shortcomings 
before  the  other  members  of  the  family,  so  fre- 
quently in  fact  that  the  brother  and  sister  some- 
times say,  "Why  are  you  forever  *  bawling  her 
out!'  How  would  you  like  to  be  ' bawled  out'  all 
the  time?" 

The  girl  has  always  had  warm  friends  among 
her  classmates.  She  belongs  to  several  clubs  and 
societies.  Everyone  likes  her  and  she  has  a  cor- 
dial time  when  she  is  with  her  friends.  The 


THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  YOUTH  217 

mother  complains  because  she  does  not  spend 
enough  time  in  the  house.  They  do  not  "bawl 
her  out"  in  any  of  her  societies,  and  naturally 
she  likes  to  be  there.  Nature  has  made  us  all  so 
that  we  dislike  to  be  with  persons  who  insult  us 
and  keep  pointing  out  our  real  or  supposed  faults. 

The  mother  does  very  little  in  the  house  her- 
self; she  does  not  have  time  for  it,  for  she  is  "in 
society";  and  besides  she  dislikes  housework. 
She  says  she  cannot  stand  it.  She  has  never 
really  taught  her  daughter  to  do  anything  in  the 
house.  She  commands  her  to  do  this  and  that,  but 
she  rarely  does  anything  with  her.  When  they 
do  try  to  work  together  the  mother 's  voice  is 
often  heard  prophesying  that  the  girl  will  come 
to  disaster  if  she  cannot  do  tasks  better  than  she 
has  been  doing  them.  The  girl  has  rarely  per- 
formed any  household  tasks  with  the  mother  with- 
out being  "bawled  out"  and  made  self-conscious 
and  ill-at-ease. 

How  the  mother  expected  the  girl  would  learn 
without  being  taught  is  a  mystery;  and  more 
mysterious  still  is  the  mother's  feeling  that  the 
girl  ought  to  like  tasks,  all  of  her  associations 
with  which  have  been  unpleasant  because  of  the 
mother's  fault-finding  and  nagging.  Needless  to 
say,  the  mother  does  not  realize  that  she  is  harsh 
or  unwise.  She  is  just  following  out  her  natural 
tendency  to  complain  because  her  daughter  cannot 
do  as  well  as  she  can  in  the  kitchen  or  elsewhere 


218  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

in  the  house.  Inquiry  reveals  the  fact  that  the 
mother  in  her  girlhood  was  not  any  more  inter- 
ested in  household  duties,  or  any  more  skillful  in 
the  performance  of  them,  than  her  daughter  is 
now;  but  the  mother  has  forgotten  about  this,  of 
course.  True  to  human  nature,  she  judges  the 
girl  by  her  own  present  interests  and  achieve- 
ments. Also  she  overlooks  all  the  daughter's  out- 
side connections,  accomplishments  and  duties. 
The  daughter  has  vastly  more  intellectual  ability 
than  the  mother,  and  can  succeed  in  situations 
where  the  mother  would  fail  miserably,  but  no 
account  is  taken  of  all  this. 

Government  by  Cooperation. —  Here  is  another 
case.  Mrs.  B.  is  the  mother  of  four  children,  two 
boys  and  two  girls.  The  oldest,  a  girl,  is  now  a 
senior  in  college.  Mrs.  B's  family  are  living 
in  more  modest  circumstances  than  Mrs.  A.'s. 
Mrs.  B.  is  not  "in  society"  to  any  such  extent  as 
Mrs.  A.,  and  she  is  not  as  ambitious  for  social 
prestige.  But  her  daughter  is  as  accomplished  as 
Mrs.  A.'s  daughter.  She,  too,  is  a  leader  among 
her  classmates,  and  a  general  favorite  in  her  col- 
lege. She  is  also  a  favorite  at  home.  All  the 
members  of  her  family  are  delighted  when  she  is 
with  them.  They  are  spoken  of  in  the  neighbor- 
hood as  a  happy  family,  even  though  they  have  to 
live  in  a  rather  restricted  way. 

Miss  B.  likes  household  duties  better  than  does 
Miss  A.  Mrs.  B.  says  that  if  she  should  be  taken 


THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  YOUTH  219 

away  any  day  her  daughter  could  "run  the 
house"  perfectly.  Visitors  to  Mrs.  B.'s  home 
sometimes  comment  on  the  joyous  sounds  that 
come  from  the  kitchen.  The  mother  and  daughter 
are  having  a  jolly  time  there, —  they  are  good 
fellows  together.  Unlike  Mrs.  A.,  Mrs.  B.  praises 
her  daughter  constantly  for  her  swiftness  and 
cleverness  in  getting  up  dishes  and  for  her  artis- 
tic sense  in  setting  the  table  and  arranging  the 
articles  in  the  house.  Mrs.  B.  never  "bawls  out" 
her  daughter  while  Mrs.  A.  does  not  follow  any 
other  plan.  The  results  are  apparent  in  the  dif- 
ference between  Miss  B.  and  Miss  A.  in  their 
ability  and  interest  in  the  work  of  the  home/ 


CHAPTER  VIII 

QUESTIONS  FREQUENTLY  ASKED  BY 
PARENTS  AND  TEACHERS 

First  Question:  When  Does  Puberty  Begin 
With  Boys  and  With  Girls? —  Those  who  are 
studying  the  development  of  the  young  distin- 
guish between  chronological  age  and  physiological 
age.  People  generally  have  chronological  age  in 
mind  when  they  speak  of  the  age  of  an  individual ; 
if  they  say  he  is  fifteen  years  old  they  mean  he 
has  lived  fifteen  years.  But  by  physiological  age 
is  meant  the  degree  of  development  which  the  in- 
dividual has  attained,  and  especially  whether  he 
has  entered,  is  completing  or  has  completed  the 
pubertal  period.  A  boy  might  have  lived  seven- 
teen years  but  not  have  reached  a  stage  of  de- 
velopment beyond  the  thirteenth  or  fourteenth 
year.  On  the  other  hand,  he  might  have  a  chrono- 
logical age  of  thirteen  years  but  have  reached  the 
stage  of  development  usually  attained  at  the  age 
of  seventeen. 

Take  a  thousand  boys  ten  years  of  age  chosen 
at  random  and  they  will  differ  in  the  age  at  which 
puberty  will  begin.  While  their  chronological  age 

220 


QUESTIONS  FREQUENTLY  ASKED  221 

is  the  same,  physiological  age  of  the  extremes 
may  differ  as  much  as  four  years.  The  majority 
of  them  will  be  just  entering  the  pubertal  period 
by  the  time  they  are  thirteen  and  a  half  years  of 
age,  but  about  one-fifth  of  them  will  not  yet  have 
entered  it,  while  two-fifths  of  them  will  have 
passed  through  the  early  stages  of  puberty.  Of 
the  thousand  boys  two  or  three  of  them  will  not 
have  entered  the  period  until  the  seventeenth  year 
while  fifty  of  them  will  have  entered  it  before 
their  thirteenth  year. 

Girls  are  about  two  years  ahead  of  boys  in  their 
pubescent  development.  Take  a  thousand  girls 
chosen  at  random  and  five  of  them  will  have  en- 
tered puberty  by  the  eleventh  year.  The  majority 
of  them  will  have  entered  it  before  they  are 
thirteen,  but  there  will  be  a  few  laggards.  The 
girls  vary  among  themselves  with  respect  to 
physiological  age  in  relation  to  chronological  age 
as  much  as  the  boys  do.  Among  one  thousand 
girls  chosen  at  random  there  will  be  a  variation 
between  the  extremes  of  five  or  six  years  in  the 
age  at  which  the  pubertal  period  will  be  entered 
and  completed. 

It  is  important  for  parents  and  teachers  to  dis- 
tinguish between  the  chronological  and  the 
physiological  age.  The  latter  is  in  every  respect 
the  more  important  to  be  taken  account  of  in  the 
teaching  and  training  of  both  boys  and  girls. 
Chronological  age  is  significant  only  as  it  gives 


222  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

a  general  clue  to  physiological  epochs.  We  may 
expect  that  the  majority  of  boys  will  have  begun 
the  maturing  process  between  their  thirteenth  and 
fourteenth  chronological  year;  but  it  should  be 
kept  constantly  in  mind  that  a  boy  may  have  com- 
pleted the  maturing  process  by  fourteen  or  he 
may  not  yet  have  entered  it. 

Immature,  maturing  and  mature  boys  ought  not 
to  be  kept  in  the  same  class,  for  they  should  not 
be  taught  or  disciplined  in  the  same  way.  This  is 
equally  true  of  girls.  Immature  boys  and  girls 
have  very  different  interests  and  points  of  view 
from  pubsecent  boys  and  girls  or  from  those  who 
have  passed  through  the  maturing  process  and 
have  reached  physiological  maturity.  When  the 
pubescent  epoch  is  reached  by  either  the  boy  or 
the  girl  all  the  vitalities  are  quickened.  The 
individual  increases  rapidly  in  height  and  weight. 
The  amplitude  of  respiration  is  greatly  increased. 
Eesistance  to  fatal  diseases  is  strengthened,  and 
in  every  essential  respect  the  individual  enters 
upon  a  sort  of  new  life.  Before  he  reaches  this 
period  he  is  individualistic ;  after  he  enters  it  he 
tends  to  become  social.  Before  puberty  he  desires 
only  to  have  a  good  time;  but  when  he  becomes 
pubescent  he  begins  to  think  of  winning  a  live- 
lihood, of  making  his  own  way,  of  establishing  a 
home.  The  chief  phenomenon  of  this  epoch  is  the 
appearance  of  the  tender  passion,  which  does  not 
play  a  prominent  role  before  the  pubertal  period 


QUESTIONS  FREQUENTLY  ASKED  223 

is  entered  but  which  will  play  the  leading  role 
throughout  life  thereafter  until  decline  begins  in 
old  age. 

Second  Question:  Why  Are  Young  People  So 
Restless  Between  the  Fourteenth  and  Sixteenth 
Years? —  There  are  two  reasons  for  this  restless- 
ness. In  the  first  place,  the  growth  in  height  is 
normally  exceedingly  rapid  at  this  time,  especially 
in  the  case  of  boys.  The  most  rapid  period  of 
growth  for  girls  is  between  the  twelfth  and  four- 
teenth years.  Now,  when  an  individual  is  increas- 
ing in  height  rapidly  it  means,  of  course,  that  the 
bones  are  lengthening  with  unusual  rapidity.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  the  typical  boy  adds  as  much  in 
height  in  one  year  between  fourteen  and  sixteen 
as  he  does  in  three  years  before  this  period  is 
reached  or  three  years  after  it  is  completed. 
There  are  exceptions  to  this  rule;  but  take  a 
thousand  boys  chosen  at  random  and  eighty-five 
per  cent,  of  them  will  achieve  very  rapid  increase 
in  height  between  fourteen  and  sixteen  due  to  the 
rapid  extension  of  the  bones. 

When  the  bones  increase  in  length  very  rapidly 
the  individual  is  apt  to  suffer  to  some  extent  from 
muscular  tension;  and  when  he  feels  muscular 
tension  he  will  be  restless  in  the  sense  that  he  will 
be  moving  about  incessantly.  This  is  the  chief 
reason  why  it  is  almost  impossible  to  keep  the 
young,  boys  especially,  sitting  in  seats  for  long 
periods  at  a  time  between  the  ages  of  fourteen 


224         THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

and  sixteen.  They  will  feel  ill-at-ease  unless  they 
can  move  about  freely.  As  a  rule,  the  more 
they  are  scolded  on  account  of  restlessness  the 
more  restless  they  become,  because  upbraiding 
serves  mainly  to  augment  the  tension  produced  by 
normal  growth. 

The  reader  may  be  helped  to  appreciate  this 
point  if  he  will  observe  adults  when  their  muscles 
become  tense,  as  when  they  sit  at  a  lecture  un- 
interruptedly for  a  couple  of  hours.  They  can- 
not resist  the  impulse  to  move  about  to  release 
the  tension  which  long  sitting  develops.  They 
will  not  be  aware  that  they  are  restless ;  they  will 
unconsciously  change  their  position  for  the  pur- 
pose of  relieving  the  set  of  the  muscles.  Even  in 
church  an  audience  that  has  been  listening  to  a 
sermon  for  a  long  time  will  become  restless 
though  the  people  may  wish  to  be  quiet  and  re- 
spectful. In  the  same  way  boys  who  are  shooting 
upward  rapidly  may  wish  to  sit  still  in  school 
and  also  in  the  home,  but  impulsively  they  will 
move  about  constantly  in  the  hope  thus  to  relieve 
the  tension  which  normal  growth  produces  during 
the  crucial  age. 

Teachers  and  parents  sometimes  try  to  compel 
boys  and  girls  who  are  restless  to  sit  still  for 
hours  at  a  time.  A  much  better  way  would  be  to 
provide  frequent  opportunities  for  change  of 
position  and  for  relaxation.  Pupils  should  not  be 
required  to  remain  in  a  sitting  position  for  longer 


QUESTIONS  FREQUENTLY  ASKED  225 

than  twenty  or  twenty-five  minutes  at  a  time  dur- 
ing the  rapidly  growing  period.  After  twenty 
minutes  of  study  or  recitation  they  should  have 
five  or  ten  minutes  of  relaxation,  which  should 
consist  in  muscular  activities,  preferably  competi- 
tive games  and  plays. 

Third  Question :  Why  A  re  Young  People  in  the 
Early  Teens  So  Careless  About  Their  Health? — 
Mature  floods  the  organism  of  boys  and  girls  in 
the  early  teens  with  a  superabundance  of  energy. 
They  feel  they  can  endure  everything  and  resist 
all  disease.  It  is  difficult  to  convince  them  in  this 
age  that  they  will  ever  be  sick  or  incapacitated. 
They  are  dominated  by  the  impulse  to  accomplish 
things  and  not  to  protect  their  health.  At  this 
age  boys  and  girls  do  not  think  of  themselves 
from  the  standpoint  of  health;  they  think  only 
of  winning  in  competitive  games,  or  gaining 
favors  from  the  opposite  sex,  or  securing  applause 
for  their  heroic  or  superhuman  deeds.  The  girl 
thinks  much  more  about  her  looks  than  about  how 
she  can  preserve  her  health. 

It  seems  impossible  to  make  young  people  take 
care  of  their  health  unless  they  can  be  led  to  see 
very  concretely  that  good  health  will  enable  them 
to  achieve  more  than  they  otherwise  could  do,  or 
that  it  is  essential  to  the  attainment  of  good  looks 
and  an  attractive  personality.  If  a  girl  can  be 
made  to  believe  that  when  she  goes  out  in  wet 
weather  with  thin-soled  shoes  she  will  lose  her 


226  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

color  or  the  brightness  of  her  eyes,  or  she  will 
suffer  from  other  disadvantages  in  respect  to 
appearance  she  may  be  induced  to  wear  rubbers 
or  thick-soled  shoes,  even  if  it  is  not  the  fashion 
among  her  associates  so  to  do.  In  the  same  way, 
if  a  boy  can  be  shown  that  when  he  throws  him- 
self on  the  ground  after  having  become  over- 
heated in  a  race  he  will  lose  his  wind  or  his  heart 
may  go  back  on  him  at  a  crucial  moment,  he  will 
be  inclined  to  be  cautious  about  taking  chances 
with  his  health  in  the  future. 

Fourth  Question:  Why  Are  Young  Persons, 
Boys  Especially,  So  Indifferent  to  Cleanliness? — 
One  of  the  most  important  facts  concerning  the 
development  of  the  individual  relates  to  his  indif- 
ference or  even  resistance  at  one  period  in  his 
career  to  certain  influences  exerted  by  the  en- 
vironment, while  at  another  period  he  may  be 
very  responsive  to  these  same  influences.  Clean- 
liness furnishes  a  good  illustration.  During  the 
early  years  a  boy  is  wholly  indifferent  to  requests 
made  by  parents  and  teachers  to  keep  his  hands 
or  face  or  any  other  part  of  his  body  or  his 
clothing  free  from  soil.  Much  of  the  effort  of 
parents  during  the  first  twelve  or  thirteen  years 
of  the  boy's  career  is  spent  in  trying  to  develop  in 
him  an  abhorrence  of  soil  on  his  person,  but  all 
the  parent's  exhortation  during  these  early  years 
usually  accomplishes  little  or  nothing.  The  boy 
is  not  only  instructed  to  keep  clean,  but  he  sees 


QUESTIONS  FREQUENTLY  ASKED  227 

all  the  older  people  around  him  making  every 
effort  to  keep  clean.  He  hears  persons  commend 
cleanliness  and  he  reads  about  the  importance  of 
being  cleanly,  but  there  seems  to  be  no  impulse 
within  him  which  will  respond  to  all  these  in- 
fluences. He  is  dominated  by  the  passion  to  dig 
and  roll  in  the  dirt  and  handle  unclean  objects 
regardless  of  their  effect  upon  his  hands  or  face 
or  clothing.  He  prefers  a  mud  puddle  to  a  parlor. 
He  apparently  enjoys  the  sensation  of  soil  on  his 
skin  and  he  often  smears  his  body  with  it. 

But  after  the  boy  passes  his  thirteenth  birth- 
day he  begins  to  be  responsive  to  suggestions  re- 
lating to  cleanliness.  The  girl  responds  several 
years  earlier  than  the  boy.  But  before  the  latter 
completes  the  pubertal  period  he  normally  be- 
comes very  sensitive  to  the  effect  of  the  objects 
with  which  he  comes  in  contact  upon  his  person. 
He  will  take  pains  at  fifteen  or  sixteen  to  remove 
soil  from  his  hands  and  his  face  and  he  will  try 
to  keep  his  clothing  clean.  Often  he  will  go  to 
as  great  extremes  at  seventeen  in  trying  to  be 
cleanly  as  he  went  in  the  other  direction  when  he 
was  ten. 

Primitive  man  ignored  the  effects  of  soil  on  his 
person.  His  survival  depended  upon  his  cultivat- 
ing indifference  to  experience  with  dirt.  He  was 
close  to  the  soil  and  was  in  some  measure  a  part 
of  it.  But  with  the  increase  of  intelligence  in 
racial  development,  man  became  more  and  more 


228          THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

detached  from  and  independent  of  the  soil,  and  he 
finally  reached  the  place  where  he  came  to  abhor 
soil.  Hygienic  and  esthetic  sensitiveness  led 
man  in  time  to  try  to  remove  all  traces  of  soil 
from  his  body  and  his  clothing.  We  have  reached 
the  point  where  uncleanliness  is  exceedingly  dis- 
tressing to  all  adults  whose  livelihood  does  not 
depend  upon  close  contact  with  the  soil.  But  as 
this  is  the  last  stage  reached  in  the  development 
of  mankind  so  it  is  the  last  stage  attained  in  the 
development  of  the  individual. 

A  young  boy  will  forsake  the  most  elaborately 
and  beautifully  equipped  house  for  a  sandpile. 
Hour  after  hour  he  will  dig  in  the  sand.  He 
greatly  enjoys  the  sensations  of  handling  the 
sand,  of  burying  his  feet  in  it,  or  shovelling  it 
from  one  place  to  another  in  a  sand  pile,  of  con- 
structing hills  and  valleys  in  it,  and  so  on.  He 
will  endure  great  physical  discomfort  from  being 
wet  and  cold  in  order  that  he  may  gratify  this 
passion  to  manipulate  sand.  But  when  he  passes 
his  twelfth  birthday  this  passion  begins  to  lose  its 
hold  on  him,  and  when  he  gets  well  into  the  teens 
he  will  forsake  it  completely  except  that  on  ac- 
casion  he  may  go  to  the  seashore  and  play  in  the 
sand. 

Fifth  Question:  How  Can  One  Control  the 
Unhealthful  Eating  Habits  of  the  Young? —  The 
majority  of  pupils  in  the  grammar  and  high 
school  bolt  their  food.  A  large  number  of  testi- 


QUESTIONS  FREQUENTLY  ASKED  229 

monies  have  been  gained  from  pupils  who  say 
that  they  do  not  devote  more  than  fifteen  minutes 
to  any  meal.  In  a  certain  college  the  students 
live  in  individual  houses;  there  are  no  dormi- 
tories. Some  of  them  have  to  go  considerable 
distances  to  their  recitation  halls  and  labora- 
tories. Most  of  the  students  have  their  first 
classes  each  day  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
The  majority  of  them  have  testified  that  they 
allow  from  five  to  ten  minutes  for  breakfast.  As 
a  rule  they  eat  a  dish  of  mush  of  some  kind,  some- 
times an  egg,  usually  fried,  and  also  fried  ham 
or  bacon  and  griddle  cakes.  All  food  is  washed 
down  with  coffee.  Then  they  rush  for  their 
classes.  TheiFlnstructors  say  that  some  of  them 
might  as  well  remain  at  home— they  accomplish 
little  or  nothing  in  their  classes,  probably  because 
the  digestive  system  is  engaged  in  a  heroic 
struggle  with  the  half-cooked  or  badly-cooked 
food  which  has  been  shoveled  in,  and  flooded  past 
the  masticating  apparatus  and  digestive  fer- 
ments. 

Then  at  noon  the  students  are  again  in  a  hurry. 
They  must  go  to  their  boarding  places  and  return 
for  early  afternoon  classes.  Some  of  them  are 
under  nervous  excitement  when  they  begin  eating, 
and  they  continue  under  it  until  they  are  through. 
They  over-eat,  considering  the  fact  that  they  are 
in  no  fit  condition  to  take  care  of  food.  The 
organism  cannot  properly  digest  or  assimilate 


230  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

food  under  nervous  strain  and  stress.  The  result 
is  lessened  vitality,  and  in  the  end  the  nervous 
and  digestive  systems  revolt  and  the  student  com- 
plains of  "dyspepsia/*  To  relieve  his  distress  he 
is  apt  to  take  some  digestive  panacea  which 
further  overtaxes  a  system  which  is  already 
heavily  burdened. 

Definite  Period  Should  Be  Assigned  for  Meals. 
—  Parents  who  have  their  children  in  their  own 
homes  should  be  able  to  control  this  matter  to 
some  extent.  A  program  should  be  worked  out  so 
that  a  child  will  have  at  least  twenty  minutes  for 
his  breakfast,  and  still  be  able  to  reach  school  in 
time  for  his  first  class  without  going  there  on  a 
dead  run.  He  should  feel  when  he  sits  down  to 
the  breakfast  table  that  he  is  not  under  terrific 
strain, —  that  if  he  does  not  bolt  his  food  he  will 
be  late  at  school  and  be  penalized.  It  would  be 
better  for  him  to  go  off  to  school  without  any 
breakfast  than  to  take  it  under  conditions  of 
great  nervous  excitement.  At  noon  no  food 
should  be  taken  until  nervous  tension  has  been 
released. 

Often  pupils  are  famished  when  they  reach 
home.  At  the  same  time  they  are  in  an  excitable 
state.  The  best  thing  for  them  to  do  would  be  to 
take  a  glass  of  warm  milk  or  malted  milk,  or  if 
milk  is  not  enjoyed,  then  to  eat  an  apple.  Any  of 
these  will  satisfy  for  the  moment,  and  will  help 
the  organism  to  regain  composure  so  that  when 


QUESTIONS  FREQUENTLY  ASKED  231 

heavier  food  is  taken  the  digestive  system  will  be 
in  a  condition  to  cope  with  it. 

The  Danger  of  Over-Eating. —  The  chief  dif- 
ficulty to  be  avoided  in  the  case  of  pupils  who  are 
tense  from  the  day's  work  is  over-eating,  espe- 
cially of  foods  like  meat,  beans,  cheese.  There 
would  not  be  much  danger  of  a  pupil  eating  too 
much  ripe  fruit,  or  zwieback,  or  well-cooked  vege- 
tables. These  foods  are  "filling"  and  satisfying, 
and  are  more  easily  disposed  of  by  an  organism 
under  stress  and  strain  than  are  the  concentrated 
albuminous  foods. 

Of  course,  the  best  way  to  solve  this  problem  is 
to  arrange  the  program  of  a  pupil  so  that  he  will 
not  feel  nervous  strain  when  he  is  at  the  table. 
When  a  number  of  children  eat  together  they  are 
urged  instinctively  to  hurry  for  fear  they  will  not 
get  enough  to  eat.  If  one  will  notice  animals  of 
any  kind  eating,  he  will  find  each  one  gorging  be- 
cause it  fears  instinctively  that  if  it  does  not 
gorge  it  may  get  nothing.  Something  of  the  same 
sort  of  instinct  controls  young  people,  and  to 
some  extent  even  older  people,  when  many  eat 
together.  This  instinct  to  gorge  food  is  the  cause 
of  a  good  deal  of  mischief  in  boarding  schools 
where  four  or  five  hundred  pupils  take  their  food 
in  the  same  mess  hall.  They  often  make  way  with 
an  enormous  amount  of  food  in  ten  or  fifteen 
minutes  when  they  should  have  spent  half  or 
three-quarters  of  an  hour  in  the  process.  But 


232  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

their  instincts  say  to  them:  "Gobble  your  food 
as  hastily  as  you  can,  so  that  you  will  get  enough. 
Everybody  around  you  is  on  the  look-out  and 
may  eat  your  allowance  unless  you  put  it  inside 
you  in  a  hurry. ' '  Those  who  manage  dining  halls 
for  large  numbers  of  pupils  should  make  the 
rule  that  no  one  can  leave  the  table  for  a  half 
hour,  say,  after  a  meal  has  begun.  There  should 
be  talks  which  would  make  the  pupils  conscious 
of  their  impulsive  tendencies  and  which  would 
help  them  to  develop  restraint  and  poise;  or  in 
other  words  to  make  them  mannerly  at  table. 

Sixth  Question:  How  Can  We  Help  Children 
to  Choose  Their  Occupation? — During  the  past 
few  years  students  of  childhood  have  been  trying 
to  find  out  how  early  children  begin  to  think  about 
their  life  work,  and  what  they  would  like  to  do 
when  grown  up  if  they  could  have  their  choice, 
and  why.  Testimonies  have  been  gained  from 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  children  in  cities  and 
in  the  country.  The  home  and  school  conditions 
of  these  children  have  all  been  noted  and  con- 
sidered in  connection  with  their  choice  of  occupa- 
tions. 

"While  choices  for  any  given  age  vary  to  some 
extent  according  to  locality,  economic  conditions, 
vocation  of  parents,  and  the  like,  still  there  is  a 
significant  uniformity  among  all  children  studied. 
About  forty  per  cent,  of  the  girls  of  all  ages 
would  prefer  to  be  teachers  above  everything  else. 


QUESTIONS  FREQUENTLY  ASKED  233 

In  giving  their  reasons  they  say  teaching  is  "nice 
work";  it  is  not  as  "hard  as  doing  house-work"; 
"one  can  do  so  much  good  by  being  a  teacher"; 
"teaching  is  a  good  work  for  a  woman";  and 
so  on. 

Not  more  than  fifteen  per  cent,  of  the  girls 
would  prefer  to  be  wives,  housekeepers  and  cooks. 
A  slightly  larger  proportion  say  they  would  like 
to  do  millinery  work  or  dressmaking,  or  serve  as 
telephone  or  telegraph  operators,  stenographers 
or  bookkeepers.  One  per  cent,  would  like  to  be 
doctors  or  nurses,  twelve  per  cent,  actresses  or 
musicians;  and  two  per  cent,  have  ambitions  to 
become  authors  or  inventors. 

The  choices  of  the  boys  are  different  from  those 
of  the  girls.  Only  three  per  cent,  regard  teaching 
as  a  desirable  business.  The  largest  number 
would  prefer  to  engage  in  commercial  work  in 
which  they  could  "make  a  good  deal  of  money." 
Engineering  appeals  strongly  to  boys,  while  farm- 
ing is  not  attractive.  Fifteen  per  cent,  would  like 
to  be  doctors,  while  only  about  half  as  many 
decide  in  favor  of  the  law.  Ten  per  cent,  choose 
the  life  of  a  soldier  or  sailor  or  police  captain. 
Only  one  per  cent,  would  like  to  go  on  the  stage 
or  be  musicians  or  orators. 

The  reasons  given  by  boys  for  the  choice  of  an 
occupation  refer  very  largely  either  to  the  making 
of  money  or  to  doing  some  big,  heroic  and  dif- 
ficult task,  such  as  performing  a  delicate  opera- 


234  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

tion  on  the  human  body  or  building  a  great  rail- 
way. The  boys  who  are  captivated  by  the  army 
or  navy  want  an  opportunity  to  show  their  cour- 
age and  daring,  and  the  same  motive  is  at  the 
bottom  of  their  desire  to  be  policemen. 

Are  Children  Influenced  By  Their  Parents' 
Occupations? — Investigators  have  attempted  to 
determine  to  what  extent  children's  choices  are 
influenced  by  the  occupations  of  their  parents. 
The  younger  the  child  the  more  likely  he  is  to  be 
so  influenced.  There  is  an  exception  to  this,  how- 
ever, in  the  case  of  young  girls,  who  are  not 
attracted  by  housekeeping.  The  life  of  the  school 
teacher  seems  much  more  inviting  than  that  of 
the  mother.  The  reason  probably  is  that  the  child 
sees  the  teacher  at  her  best  and  the  mother  often 
at  her  worst.  There  are  so  many  conspicuous 
irritations  in  keeping  a  house  that  even  a  young 
girl  is  apt  to  acquire  a  distaste  for  it.  The 
teacher,  the  actress,  the  nurse,  the  stenographer, 
the  telephone  operator,  and  the  clerk  in  the  dry- 
goods  store  are  better  dressed  than  the  mother 
in  the  kitchen,  and  they  appear  to  have  a  better 
time.  So  their  work  makes  a  stronger  impres- 
sion on  the  girl  than  does  the  mother's  work. 

We  are  hearing  much  these  days  in  favor  of 
training  girls  to  become  housekeepers ;  but  unless 
they  can  be  made  interested  in  it  in  their  younger 
years  it  will  probably  be  impossible  to  impress 
them  favorably  with  it  by  any  amount  of  urging 


QUESTIONS  FREQUENTLY  ASKED  235 

after  they  reach  the  teens.  If  the  duties  involved 
in  making  a  hoine  are  evidently  disagreeable  and 
circumscribing,  then  the  theoretical  teaching  of 
the  school  will  probably  not  count  for  much  in 
the  way  of  leading  girls  to  wish  to  cast  their  lot 
in  the  direction  of  keeping  a  house. 

In  order  that  homemaking  may  become  attract- 
ive there  must  seem  to  be  some  romance  about  it. 
No  normal  person  will  deliberately  chose  a  .calling 
which  appears  to  have  little  but  commonplace 
drudgery  in  it.  A  teacher  may  talk  to  girls  until 
she  is  black  in  the  face  about  the  delights  of  mak- 
ing a  home  without  producing  any  effect  upon 
them,  if  in  their  actual  contact  with  housekeeping 
they  are  impressed  only  with  its  dull,  heavy,  mo- 
nontonus  routine.  This  is  undoubtedly  the  chief 
reason  why  such  a  small  proportion  of  girls  who 
have  indicated  their  choice  of  occupation  suggest 
homemaking. 

There  is  a  similar  situation  in  respect  to  the 
boy's  choice  of  occupation.  We  are  hearing  it 
said  on  every  side  to-day  that  we  should  teach 
boys  in  the  country  to  stay  on  the  farm.  Lectur- 
ers go  around  among  the  schools  and  tell  the  boys 
what  a  delightful  life  a  farmer  has.  They  dwell 
upon  the  beauty  of  the  country,  the  freedom  of 
thought  and  action  which  the  farmer  enjoys,  and 
the  healthfulness  of  tilling  the  soil.  But  when  the 
boys  are  at  home  they  are  conscious  mainly  of 
the  farmer's  struggle  to  make  a  living.  They 


236  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

hear  principally  about  hard  times,  and  they  are 
constantly  exhorted  to  be  economical.  Actual, 
concrete  experience  of  this  sort  will  offset  any 
ideal  picture  of  farming  which  lecturers  give  in 
schoolhouses. 

One  thing  we  can  count  on;  the  boy  will 
choose  an  occupation  in  which  he  thinks  he  will 
have  some  adventure.  He  will  avoid  if  he  can 
any  kind  of  work  which  he  thinks  will  hold  him 
down  to  mere  routine.  If  farming  cannot  be  made 
romantic  to  some  degree,  the  majority  of  the  boys 
on  the  farm  will  not  choose  it  as  an  occupation; 
this  is  certain. 

A  Child's  Views  Change  As  He  Develops. —  A 
very  young  child's  views  of  a  desirable  vocation 
are  not  to  be  regarded  with  great  seriousness,  of 
course.  As  he  grows  older  his  desires  are  likely 
to  change.  Investigators  have  collected  many 
testimonies  from  adults  showing  that  during  the 
period  from  five  to  twenty  their  choice  of  what 
they  would  like  to  do  changed  several  times, 
though  in  a  number  of  cases  men  became  inter- 
ested very  early  in  music,  or  in  mechanics,  or  in 
engineering,  or  in  some  branch  of  business,  and 
they  maintained  this  interest  throughout  child- 
hood and  youth  and  into  mature  life. 

But  it  must  be  expected  that  the  interests  of  the 
majority  of  young  people  will  change  somewhat 
according  as  their  range  of  observation  and  ex- 
perience enlarges.  And  it  is  highly  desirable  that 


QUESTIONS  FREQUENTLY  ASKED  237 

the  child  and  the  youth  should  be  given  as  gen- 
erous an  opportunity  as  possible  to  learn  the 
characteristics  of  and  the  requirements  for  va- 
rious kinds  of  work  and  different  professions.  A 
youth  should  not  settle  too  early  upon  his  life 
work.  He  should  be  given  a  chance  to  test  him- 
self in  a  variety  of  vocations.  The  parent  and 
the  teacher  should  study  his  temperament,  his 
special  abilities,  his  tastes,  his  physical  condition ; 
and  with  data  gained  in  this  way  it  should  be  pos- 
sible to  advise  a  boy  seventeen  or  eighteen  years 
of  age  so  that  he  could  chose  a  vocation  or  a  pro- 
fession with  far  greater  success  than  he  could 
have  done  at  eleven  or  twelve. 

Fortunately,  the  schools  everywhere  are  giving 
attention  to  vocational  guidance.  There  should 
be  a  vocational  adviser  in  every  progressive 
school  to-day.  It  should  be  the  duty  of  this 
adviser  to  study  all  the  opportunities  for  boys 
and  girls  in  the  locality  in  which  the  school  is 
situated.  He  should  then  study  carefully  the  boys 
and  girls  who  are  about  to  leave  either  the 
elementary  school  or  the  high  school.  He  should 
have  a  record  of  their  work,  their  conduct  and 
their  health  during  the  whole  school  course.  He 
should,  by  personal  observation  and  by  tests  so 
far  as  possible,  learn  the  characteristics  of  the 
boys  and  girls  who  are  about  to  begin  their  life 
work;  and  after  consultation  with  the  parents,  he 
should  then  be  able  to  advise  them  intelligently 


238  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

regarding  a  vocation  or  profession.  This  is  pre- 
cisely what  is  being  undertaken  in  the  more  pro- 
gressive communities  to-day,  and  it  ought  to  be 
undertaken  in  every  community. 

Seventh  Question:  Why  Does  Manual  Training 
in  School  Have  Such  Slight  Influence  on  the  Use- 
fulness of  Boys  Around  the  Home? — Mainly  be- 
cause the  work  in  manual  training  in  the  school 
often  has  little  or  no  relation  to  the  work  that  is 
constantly  needing  to  be  done  about  a  home.  In 
some  schools  pupils  never  make  any  useful  thing; 
they  merely  learn  to  use  tools  in  a  formal  way 
and  so  they  take  no  interest  and  acquire  no  skill 
in  making  furniture  for  the  home  or  repairing 
worn  or  broken  articles.  What  pupils  do  in 
school  largely  determines  what  they  will  be  inter- 
ested in  doing  outside  of  school. 

But  some  schools  are  adopting  a  program  in 
manual  training  work  which  is  designed  to  make 
pupils  useful  in  their  homes.  A  survey  of  the 
articles  made  by  757  pupils  in  a  small  western 
city  showed  the  following  results, — every  article 
counted  could  actually  be  used: 

Fifth  Grade.  Sixth  Grade 

209  (Playground)  218  (Playground) 
51  (Workshop)  79  (Workshop) 

447  (Home)  637  (Home) 


QUESTIONS  FREQUENTLY  ASKED  239 

Seventh  Grade  Eighth  Grade 

222  (Playground)  323  (Playground) 

59  (Workshop)  47  (Workshop) 

1034  (Home)  1178  (Home) 
10  (Schoolroom)  82  (Schoolroom) 

The  following  lists  indicate  the  character  of 
the  articles  made  in  each  grade: 

Fifth  Grade. —  Toy  chair,  gate,  bread-board, 
wagon,  birdstick,  stepladder,  guns,  sword,  shield, 
door-mat,  fence,  toy  furniture,  boat,  fence,  bird- 
cage, sling-shot,  bow  and  arrow,  sword  and  case, 
shack,  picture  frame,  rabbit  pen,  grater,  salt  box, 
wind-mill,  test-tube  holder,  picture  frame,  paper 
rack,  sail  boat,  ice  boat,  nursery  furniture,  table, 
chair,  Christmas  tree  stand,  raft,  button  box, 
hammer  handle,  moving  picture  machine  (toy), 
wheelbarrow,  wooden  gun,  wooden  shovel. 

Sixth  Grade. —  Grater,  spear,  guns,  sword,  boat, 
wagon,  fence,  bird-stick,  shack,  flag-pole,  card 
holder,  book  holder,  weather  vane,  wind-mill, 
bread-board,  necktie  holder,  bow  and  arrow,  dog 
cart,  postcard  holder,  book  rack,  knitting  needles, 
magazine  rack,  small  chair,  bean  blower,  sub- 
marine, tanks,  British  tank,  armoured  car,  coal 
bin,  sail  boat,  pier,  music  stand,  porch  box,  marble 
box,  toy  gun,  boat,  sling-shot,  rabbit  coop,  tie  rack, 
ink  stand,  cart,  picture  frame,  horse  manger, 
clothes  stick,  bicycle  stand,  animal  cage,  line  reel, 
medicine  chest. 


240  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

Seventh  Grade. —  Bread-board,  fence,  bench, 
shack,  flower  box,  necktie  rack,  cart,  launches, 
sailboats,  swords,  shoe-shining  box,  magazine 
rack,  watch  stand,  wheelbarrow,  candle  holder, 
key  holders,  ice  boats,  chicken  house,  bow  and 
arrow,  bobs,  wagons,  sparrow  traps,  fly-catcher- 
house,  magazine  rack,  ash  sifter,  halltree. 

Eighth  Grade. —  Umbrella  rack,  bread-board, 
piano  bench,  fence,  camp  chairs,  calf  pen  and 
fence,  cedar  chest,  rat  trap,  halltree,  wind-mill, 
tie  rack,  grater,  step  ladder,  camp  stool,  costumer, 
bench  hook,  shack,  rattle  boxes,  big  boat,  tooth- 
brush rack,  flag  pole,  ladder,  platform,  wagon, 
push  cart,  auto,  rustic  bench,  tennis  stand,  ice- 
cream counter,  window  stick,  ice  boat,  play  house, 
fish  line  holder,  washing  benches,  shoe  blacking 
box,  wind-mill,  telephone  stand,  magazine  rack, 
rope  winder,  cart,  milk  stool,  board  fence,  circus 
pole  for  school,  lamp,  bird  stick. 

Making  Repairs. —  A  considerable  part  of  the 
manual  training  of  these  757  pupils  has  to  do 
with  making  repairs.  The  following  table  indi- 
cates the  number  who  made  bona  fide  repairs  on 
the  articles  mentioned  during  the  first  five  months 
of  the  school  year: 

Eepairs  to : 

Windows 164 

Doors   230 

Furniture    255 

Chairs  .118 


QUESTIONS  FREQUENTLY  ASKED "  241 

Screens    Ill 

Shelves 20 

Sidewalks,  Porches,  Floors,  Bailings 

and  Steps   212 

Roofs 22 

Autos,  Bicycles,  Motorcycles 58 

Plumbing 24 

Painting,  Varnishing,  Eefinishing 23 

Chicken  Coop,  Kabbit  Hutches 80 

Fences,  Gates 77 

Coal  Bins,  Wood  Sheds,  Houses,  Garages 68 

Toys,  Wagons,  Sleds,  Boats,  Scooters 93 

Electrical  Apparatus  4 

Shoes 11 

Making  Money. —  The  motive  back  of  the  ef- 
forts of  most  adults  relates  to  the  making  of 
money.  Pupils  in  the  higher  grades  may  very 
properly  have  the  making  of  money  in  view  as  an 
outcome  of  their  mastery  of  manual  arts.  When 
a  pupil  realizes  that  he  can  make  an  article  for 
which  he  can  obtain  money  in  the  market,  he  is 
incited  to  learn  all  the  processes  necessary  to 
succeed  in  his  task.  Money  reward  is  one  form 
of  concrete  evidence  that  a  pupil  has  done  his 
work  up  to  standard.  The  following  testimonies 
from  some  of  the  757  pupils  mentioned  above 
show  that  their  manual  training  had  equipped 
them  to  perform  tasks  that  need  to  be  done  in 
every-day  life: 


242  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

"I  learned  to  use  tools  with  which  I  earned 
$5.50." 

"I  earned  a  dollar  a  day  for  lathing  a  house. 
Manual  training  helped  me  to  do  that  lathing. ' ' 

"When  I  repaired  the  steps  in  the  back  yard  I 
earned  twenty-five  cents  from  my  brother-in- 
law.  " 

"I  have  earned  money  in  carpenter  work." 

"I  make  small  chicken  houses  and  sell  them 
for  $1.00.  I  made  part  of  a  side  walk." 

' '  I  built  a  sidewalk  and  got  paid  for  it.  Manual 
training  helped  me  to  use  tools." 

"I  built  a  poultry  house  and  was  paid  for  it. 
I  repaired  a  sidewalk  and  was  paid  for  it." 

"I  helped  shingle  a  roof  and  earned  $1.00." 

"I  sold  $2.50  worth  of  manual  training  prod- 
ucts." 

"  I  sold  a  joint  for  $2.00." 

"I  have  learned  to  make  fern  stands  very  well 
and  have  sold  them  at  $1.00  each." 

"I  earned  $2.00  for  helping  to  build  a  garage." 

"My  father  pays  me  $1.00  a  week  for  what  I  do 
around  the  house.  He  first  paid  me  fifty  cents, 
but  I  am  handier  since  I  took  manual  training.  I 
made  a  runway  for  ashes  which  enabled  me  to  do 
more  work." 

"I  made  a  snow  scraper  and  a  fish  sled,  and 
earned  a  lot  of  money." 

"I  lathed  all  last  summer.  I  made  bread- 
boards and  wind  mills  and  sold  them.  I  sold  bird 


QUESTIONS  FREQUENTLY  ASKED  243 

houses,  repaired  drawers  and  table  legs,  made  hod 
handles  for  plasterers,  a  mitre  box  and  rifle 
stocks. " 

"I  repaired  bicycles,  tables,  wagons,  chairs, 
steps,  railings,  made  bread-boards  and  foot-stool. 
I  did  electric  wiring  and  made  boxes,  weather- 
vanes,  mailbox  and  mitre  box.  I  stained  and 
varnished  articles." 

"I  made  a  carrier  for  my  wheat,  a  taboret  for 
a  neighbor,  a  dog-house  for  my  aunt,  pen  holders 
for  the  druggist." 

"I  have  learned  to  make  joints,  which  has 
helped  me  in  making  a  scaffold  for  my  father  to 
use  in  his  business.  He  pays  me  for  build- 
ing it." 

' 6 1  made  a  wagon  to  sell  fish,  and  put  hinges  on 
a  door." 

"I  planed  windows." 

"I  have  helped  screen  in  a  porch,  fitted  storm 
windows,  painted  a  porch,  helped  paint  a  barn." 

"I  repaired  shelves  in  a  store." 

"I  have  made  an  ash-sifter." 

"I  learned  to  get  things  square  and  to  saw 
straight,  chisel  and  mark  gauge.  I  have  earned 
money  making  boxes  to  send  medicine  in." 

"I  helped  make  a  summer  house." 

"I  helped  build  a  rabbit  house  and  was  paid 
for  it." 

"I  made  boxes  for  St.  Mary's  hospital." 

"I  helped  a  neighbor  erect  a  vine  climber." 


244  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

"I  helped  a  carpenter  board  a  house." 

"I  helped  make  a  door  through  a  barn  wall." 

"I  put  a  box  on  my  scootmobile. " 

"I  fixed  my  rabbit  coop  and  made  it  warmer 
and  kept  the  young  hares  from  freezing.  They 
grew  hearty  and  I  sold  them  for  a  good  price." 

"I  built  a  chicken  coop  for  myself  and  got 
money  from  the  eggs.  I  sold  kites  that  I  made, 
and  got  a  Bed  Cross  membership  by  making 
knitting  needles." 

"I  made  kites,  built  bird  houses,  and  made 
knitting  needles  which  I  sold." 

"I  have  learned  something  of  manual  training 
so  that  I  can  be  a  carpenter  when  I  am  big.  I 
have  been  working  for  men,  helping  them  to  board 
the  house.  I  have  worked  on  a  barn." 

"I  made  a  fence  for  my  neighbor." 

"I  made  a  trough  and  sold  it." 

"I  sold  my  marble  box  to  a  boy  to  keep  his 
marbles  in." 

"I  made  a  picture  frame  and  sold  it,  repaired 
a  railing  and  made  some  money." 

"I  make  match  scratchers  and  sell  them." 

"I  have  learned  to  make  small  stools  to  hold 
plants,  and  a  box  to  let  pet  animals  sleep  in  and 
have  sold  them." 

Eighth  Question :  How  Can  We  Control  Profes- 
sional Athletics  in  Schools? — High  schools  and 
colleges  universally  condemn  professionalism  in 
athletics.  They  will  not  permit  a  boy  to  play  on 


QUESTIONS  FREQUENTLY  ASKED  245 

a  team  if  he  has  violated  any  rule  directed  against 
professionalism.  If  he  should  play  a  game  of 
baseball  with  a  professional  team,  say,  he  would  be 
debarred  from  taking  part  in  any  contests  in  his 
high  school  or  college.  It  is  thought  that  in  this 
way  athletics  in  high  school  and  college  can  be 
kept  free  from  commercialism,  so  that  games  will 
be  played  for  the  sake  of  sport,  and  not  for  ma- 
terial gain.  But  this  worthy  aim  is  not  realized 
in  many  high  schools  and  colleges.  The  football, 
basketball,  and  baseball  teams  which  engage  in 
inter-academic  and  inter-collegiate  contests  are  as 
professional  in  some  ways  as  any  out-and-out 
professional  teams.  The  chief  difference  between 
them  is  that  in  the  latter  case  the  player  re- 
ceives the  pay  for  his  services,  while  in  the 
former  the  school  is  the  beneficiary.  In  many 
schools  a  big  fee  is  charged  for  admission  to  any 
contest,  and  large  sums  are  obtained  in  this  way. 
School  and  college  teams  do  not,  as  a  rule,  play 
football  or  basketball  or  baseball  for  the  sake  of 
sport  merely.  They  play  for  glory  and  for  the 
gate  receipts.  Most  of  the  funds  set  aside  for 
physical  training  in  high  schools  and  colleges  is 
spent  on  the  few  people  who  get  on  the  team. 
High-priced  coaches  give  all  their  time  to  a  hand- 
ful of  men  who  are,  as  a  rule,  over-trained. 

A  few  voices  are  being  raised  throughout  the 
country  in  protest  against  this  abuse  of  sport  in 
educational  institutions.  In  some  places  high 


246         THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

schools  and  colleges  are  built  largely  around  their 
teams,  and  all  the  other  activities  of  the  institu- 
tions are  at  a  low  ebb.  The  readers  of  this 
volume  could  do  a  service  to  education  if  they 
would  put  a  damper  in  their  various  commu- 
nities on  inter-academic  and  inter-collegiate  con- 
tests. Of  course,  one  high  school  or  one  college 
cannot  act  independently  of  the  others  in  its  ter- 
ritory. Fortunately  there  is  a  movement  now 
under  way  which  may  lessen  the  importance  at- 
tached to  competition  between  different  institu- 
tions and  awaken  an  interest  in  contests  between 
classes  and  societies  within  an  institution.  We 
need  to  give  more  attention  to  inside  athletics 
instead  of  concentrating  everything  on  outside 
contests.  Every  pupil  in  a  high  school  or  college 
should  be  a  member  of  some  team.  The  money 
which  can  be  devoted  to  physical  education  should 
be  spent  mainly  on  the  great  body  of  students, 
and  not  on  contesting  teams.  Some  day  we  will 
look  back  curiously  on  our  present  practise  of 
assigning  high-paid  instructors  to  over-train  a 
dozen  or  two  men  while  the  mass  of  students  is 
left  without  any  or  with  only  inferior  instruction. 
We  will  look  back  with  amazement  on  our  plan 
of  giving  up  a  school  gymnasium  to  a  few  men 
who  are  training  for  the  teams  and  keeping  most 
of  the  students  out  of  it,  and  letting  them  go 
without  any  physical  training  or  at  best  with 
only  a  half  hour  a  week.  But  the  thing  that  will 


QUESTIONS  FREQUENTLY  ASKED 

seem  most  inexplicable  of  all  to  us  when  we  look 
back  a  few  years  hence  is  our  practise  of  elimi- 
nating from  teams  all  students  except  those  who 
are  best  developed  and  who  need  training  the 
least  and  spending  our  time  and  resources  on 
them,  while  we  let  those  go  without  training  who 
are  poorly  developed  and  who  are  most  in  need 
of  it. 

Ninth  Question:  Shall  I  Send  My  Boy  To  a 
Military  School? — Most  of  a  boy's  daily  program 
in  a  military  school  is  regulated  by  a  fixed 
schedule.  He  rises  in  the  morning  at  six  o'clock 
or  thereabouts  when  reveille  is  sounded.  He  is 
given  from  three  to  five  minutes  to  dress.  At  the 
end  of  this  time,  he  must  respond  to  roll  call 
either  for  drill  exercises  or  for  some  kind  of 
gymnastics.  After  his  exercise  he  takes  a  cold 
spray.  He  is  given  five  minutes  or  so  to  get  into 
his  uniform.  He  probably  then  will  have  some 
more  drill,  after  which  he  will  march  to  break- 
fast. He  will  stand  at  his  place  at  table  until  he 
is  commanded  to  be  seated.  He  will  come  to 
attention  upon  command,  and  he  will  listen  to  the 
orders  for  the  day.  He  will  rise  from  the  table 
upon  command,  and  will  march  out  in  order.  He 
will  then  probably  be  given  ten  or  fifteen  minutes 
of  freedom,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  will 
fall  into  line  and  march  to  the  classroom,  and  will 
be  seated  upon  command.  At  the  conclusion  of 
the  recitation  he  will  rise  upon  command  and  will 


248  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

march  to  his  next  class  or  his  next  duty.  And  so 
he  goes  on  until  taps  are  sounded  at  9 :30  at  night 
when  his  lights  must  go  out.  He  may  have  one  or 
two  hours  during  the  day  when  he  will  be  at  lei- 
sure to  go  about  the  grounds  informally,  but  dur- 
ing the  rest  of  his  time  he  will  be  governed  by  the 
routine  orders. 

The  Military  Regimen. —  Under  a  military 
regime  everything  must  be  done  exactly  on  time 
and  according  to  fixed  standards.  The  uniforms 
must  all  be  clean,  every  button  must  be  in  place, 
and  the  clothes  must  fit  the  cadet  acceptably 
according  to  the  military  style.  The  hands  and 
face  must  be  clean,  the  hair  combed,  the  shoes 
brushed,  the  linen  must  be  immaculate.  If  there 
is  any  neglect  or  deficiency  in  these  respects  a 
definite  penalty  is  assigned.  No  cadet  ever  "  talks 
back"  in  regard  to  any  of  these  matters;  the 
superior  officer  decides  without  debate  whether 
or  not  a  cadet  has  conformed  to  the  requirements. 
If  the  cadet  is  ten  seconds  behind  time  at  any 
exercise;  if  he  shows  the  slightest  discourtesy 
toward  any  officer;  if  he  becomes  negligent  or 
indifferent  either  in  the  classroom  or  in  his  mili- 
tary exercises,  he  is  detected  and  penalized.  He 
cannot  interfere  with  the  rights  or  activities  of 
any  other  cadet  or  he  will  suffer  for  it.  If  he 
thinks  he  has  been  dealt  with  unjustly  by  an 
officer,  he  may  appeal  to  a  higher  officer,  and  his 
case  may  be  heard.  But  it  is  a  fundamental  mili- 


QUESTIONS  FREQUENTLY  ASKED  249 

tary  principle  that  any  cadet  is  under  the  control 
of  his  immediate  superior. 

Would  this  sort  of  regimen  be  beneficial  for\ 
boys  in  the  public  schools  who  take  liberties  with 
their  teachers;  who  are  tardy  and  absent  from  / 
their  work  a  good  deal;  who  show  disrespect  for  | 
teachers  as  far  as  they  dare  to;  who  "talk  back" 
when  they  are  criticized  for  misconduct,  and  so 
on?  Yes,  such  boys  would  be  immensely  benefited 
by  a  military  training.  To  be  brought  under  a 
regime  of  fair,  just  discipline  from  which  there 
is  no  possible  escape  is  just  what  such  boys  need. 
They  must  conform  or  take  the  consequences. 
The  typical  boy  in  a  modern  home  may  argue  for 
half  an  hour  with  his  parents  before  getting  out 
of  bed.  He  may  start  five  minutes  late  to  school 
day  after  day.  He  may  fail  to  spend  any  time 
in  studying  his  lessons  out-of-school  hours.  His 
parents  may  ask  him  to  do  this  or  that,  and  what 
they  say  may  pass  in  one  ear  and  out  the  other 
without  producing  any  effect  on  his  behavior. 
The  number  of  such  boys  is  increasing  in  modern 
life,  unfortunately. 

Boys  Should  Learn  to  Conform  to  Reasonable 
Rides. —  The  best  thing  that  can  happen  to  a  boy 
is  to  get  into  the  habit  early  of  conforming  read- 
ily and  without  question  to  the  rules  and  regula- 
tions of  the  home  and  the  school.  Unless  he  does 
this,  he  will  keep  everybody  around  him  in  hot 
water  much  of  the  time,  and  he  will  be  unhappy 


250         THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

himself  because  he  will  be  nagged  and  censured. 
A  non-conformist  in  home  or  school  cannot  avoid 

/coming  constantly  into  conflict  with  persons  in 
authority,  and  when  this  habit  becomes  fixed,  it 
will  keep  its  possessor  in  a  kind  of  antagonistic 
and  belligerent  attitude  toward  those  about  him. 
You  will  never  find  a  boy  like  this  and  also  find 

ithat  he  is  a  really  cheerful,  good-natured  and 

\agreeable  fellow. 

\  Of  course,  proper  training  would  usually  pre- 
vent a  boy  from  developing  such  a  disposition. 
But  the  conditions  in  modern  life  often  make  it 
difficult  to  bring  up  a  child  so  that  he  will  readily 
and  joyfully  adapt  himself  to  the  necessary  rules 
and  regulations  of  home  and  school,  and  arrange 
his  daily  program  in  accordance  therewith.  For 
this  reason  the  military  school  becomes  a  neces- 
sity for  many  boys.  It  is  a  rigorous  regime,  and 
many  parents  are  too  tender  to  subject  their  boys 
to  it,  and  so  they  let  them  go  on  disobedient,  dis- 
respectful, and  tantalizing  until  they  become  a 
nuisance  to  themselves  and  an  irritation  to  others. 
Taking  a  boy's  entire  life  into  account,  it  would 
be  much  better  for  him  to  be  under  rigid  dis- 
cipline for  four  or  five  years  and  learn  to  conform 
to  necessary  authority  rather  than  to  go  on  enjoy- 
ing his  freedom,  which  in  his  case  amounts  to 
license,  until  he  arouses  the  hostility  and  ani- 
mosity of  everyone  around  him. 

It  would  not  do  to  have  the  typical  boy  spend 


QUESTIONS  FREQUENTLY  ASKED  251 

his  whole  life  under  a  military  regimen.  When  the 
time  comes  that  the  home  and  the  school  will  co- 
operate to  train  children  in  good  habits  so  that 
they  must  be  sensitive  to  and  respectful  of  au- 
thority, and  so  that  they  will  not  be  trying  to 
"put  it  over"  on  teachers,  parents  and  servants, 
then  the  military  school  as  a  separate  institution 
may  not  be  so  necessary.  If  our  homes  and  social 
life  were  arranged  for  the  proper  training  of  the 
young  rather  than  for  the  pleasure  of  adults,  we 
would  be  able  to  give  young  people  the  sort  of 
training  which  they  need  without  sending  them 
'away  from  home  to  special  training  schools.  But 
until  that  day  arrives,  it  would  be  better  to  take 
boys  who  are  becoming  wholly  irresponsible  in 
the  public  schools,  and  subject  them  to  the  dis- 
ciplinary influence  of  a  military  school. 

Tenth  Question:  Shall  I  Send  My  Boy  to  a 
Large  University? — Many  persons  think  that  in 
a  small  college  a  student  will  be  looked  after 
more  carefully  by  members  of  the  faculty  than 
he  is  likely  to  be  in  a  large  university.  But  in 
most  of  the  universities  now  plans  have  been  per- 
fected whereby  every  student  is  under  the  ob- 
servation and  guidance  of  a  member  of  the 
faculty.  The  students,  too,  are  organized  for 
the  purpose  of  helping  freshmen  to  adjust  them- 
selves to  university  life  in  a  proper  way. 

For  a  boy  who  is  eager  of  mind,  who  has 
strength  of  character,  and  who  is  reasonably  seri- 


252  THE  TREND   OF  THE  TEENS 

ous  in  his  interests,  there  can  be  no  question  that 
the  large  university  offers  advantages  which  can- 
not be  duplicated  in  the  small  college.  In  the 
university,  a  good  student  will  be  placed  in  com- 
petition with  a  great  many  others  of  his  quality, 
and  this  will  tend  to  develop  whatever  of  ability 
and  stamina  he  may  possess  in  embryo.  Besides, 
he  will  have  an  opportunity  to  emulate  men  who 
are  accomplishing  things  in  every  field  of  en- 
deavor, and  he  will  have  open  before  him  an  ex- 
ceedingly varied  program  of  activities,  which 
should  develop  his  talents  whatever  they  may  be. 

The  great  university,  with  its  freedom  and  its 
vast  opportunities,  is  the  place  for  the  capable 
man;  but  it  presents  difficulties  and  problems  for 
the  weak  or  dissipated  fellow  who  requires  urging 
and  continual  guidance  to  keep  him  straight. 
Again,  the  boy  who  easily  loses  his  head  or  his 
courage  in  a  crowd  ought  not  to  go  to  the  big 
university  until  he  has  been  well  introduced  to 
college  life  in  the  small  college.  There  are  dis- 
tractions in  the  big  school  which  are  not  so 
marked  in  the  small,  homelike  college.  At  the 
same  time,  a  student  in  a  great  university  may 
live  his  life  entirely  away  from  all  distractions, — 
in  the  libraries,  the  laboratories,  and  the  class- 
rooms. 

A  boy  can  go  through  a  big  university  and  have 
no  social  connections  at  all,  if  he  does  not  want 
them.  But  such  a  thing  would  be  impossible  in 


QUESTIONS  FREQUENTLY  ASKED  253 

the  small  college  where  everyone  knows  every- 
one else.  The  recluse,  the  "dig,"  the  "book 
worm,"  strange  as  it  may  seem,  can  exist  and 
develop  better  in  the  big  university  than  in  the 
small  college,  just  as  one  may  be  more  alone,  more 
of  a  hermit  in  a  great  city  than  in  a  small  town. 

If  your  boy  has  abundant  energy;  if  he  has 
strength  of  mind  and  of  character;  if  he  is  inde- 
pendent in  his  thinking  and  action;  if  he  has 
developed  the  habit  of  application  to  serious 
tasks,  then  by  all  means  send  him  to  a  big  uni- 
versity for  at  least  a  part  of  his  collegiate  course. 

Eleventh  Question:  How  Can  We  Train  Our 
Young  People  to  Avoid  Slang? — foreigners, 
especially  cultivated  English  people,  think  we  lack 
refinement  in  our  speech.  They  say  we  are  too 
fond  of  slang.  We  are  not  sensitive  to  rough 
language.  We  tolerate  crudities  and  violations 
of  good  usage  which  would  be  impossible  among 
cultured  people  in  England.  It  is  said  that  the 
English  language  is  degenerating  in  America,  and 
in  its  place  is  developing  an  uncouth  and  even 
offensive  speech. 

No  one  will  deny  that  American  speech  is  un- 
conventional, at  any  rate,  but  whether  it  is  rough 
and  boorish  depends  upon  one's  point  of  view. 
Some  people  like  the  color  and  picturesqueness 
of  our  speech.  They  feel  that  it  is  quite  har- 
monious with  our  manners  and  the  characteristics 
of  our  intellectual  and  social  life.  We  are  an  un- 


254  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

conventional  people.  We  have  established  a  new 
type  of  social  life  on  this  continent.  Our  people 
are  free  and  equal,  or  at  least  they  think  they  are. 
We  are  not  moored  to  the  past ;  we  live  in  the  im- 
mediate present.  We  are  looking  forward  rather 
than  backward.  A  distinguished  ancestry  doe& 
not  impress  us.  We  admire  a  man  for  what  he 
has  done,  rather  than  for  what  his  ancestors  were. 
We  are  a  dynamic  people.  We  exalt  those  who 
make  things  go.  We  used  once  to  admire  static 
goodness,  but  those  times  have  passed.  Our  edu- 
cational system  is  based  from  start  to  finish  on 
the  principle  of  action  rather  than  of  learning  or 
memorizing.  We  are  not  searching  after  "  cult- 
ure ";  we  are  striving  for  capability  in  the  prac- 
tical situations  of  life.  We  esteem  most  highly 
knowledge  and  training  which  will  make  one 
efficient.  We  have  little  regard  for  mere  personal 
accomplishment  which  does  not  issue  in  any 
practical  achievement. 

Many  Persons  Enjoy  Vigorous  Language. — 
Now  those  who  are  in  sympathy  with  the  domi- 
nant tendencies  in  American  life  will  admire  the 
colorful  character  of  our  speech.  One  can  hear 
vigorous  men  and  active  women  praising  and 
fusing  modern  terms  and  phrases  coined  by 
dynamic  persons  whose  thought  and  feeling  can- 
not well  be  expressed  in  conventional  and  highly 
refined  and  subdued  terms.  One  can  hear  per- 
sons say  that  the  conventionalized  speech  of  an 


QUESTIONS  FREQUENTLY  ASKED  255 

Englishman  lacks  " punch"  and  individuality.    It 
is.  formal,    bookish,    the    result    of    memorizing 
rather  than  of  originality  and  initiative.    Vigor- 
ous American  people  appreciate  language  with  j 
driving  power.    They  like  to  be  stirred,  aroused,  ' 
stimulated  by  language  as  they  do  by  lively  exer- 
cise and  invigorating  air. 

The  speech  of  a  people  is  always  expressive 
of  their  social  life  and  their  intellectual  and 
physical  traits.  Those  who  are  very  conserva- 
tive, among  whom  there  are  class  distinctions, 
and  whose  educational  system  is  mainly  linguistic, 
and  classic  at  that,  will  resist  innovations  in 
speech.  Each  generation  will  be  trained  to  use 
the  conventional  expressions  of  ancestors.  Such 
people  will  be  offended  if  anyone  takes  liberties 
with  the  traditional  style  of  speech.  They  will 
be  shocked  when  they  hear  expressions  which 
have  not  been  approved  by  the  classic  authors, 
or  which  have  not  been  sanctioned  by  long  usage. 
Again,  those  who  are  not  vigorous  physically 
will  not  approve  of  piquant  figures  of  speech. 
Generally  speaking,  the  more  energy  a  people 
have,  if  it  is  freely  expressed,  the  more  life  and 
color  will  appear  in  their  speech.  Speech  is  thus 
merely  a  reflection  of  the  vitality  and  tempera- 
ment of  a  person  or  of  a  nation. 

So  it  is  inevitable  that  in  America  we  should 
depart  in  some  measure  from  the  speech  we  have 
inherited  from  the  mother  country.  Everything 


256  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

is  rushing  forward  at  such  a  pace  here  that  it 
would  be  impossible  for  us  to  be  satisfied  with 
a  language  developed  in  a  time  when  there  were 
no  automobiles,  when  there  were  no  trusts,  when 
most  people  never  went  more  than  a  hundred 
miles  away  from  the  place  where  they  were  born, 
when  trains  did  not  exceed  the  speed  limit  of 
twenty  miles  an  hour,  when  only  the  "elite"  re- 
ceived a  higher  education.  If  Americans  were 

.  confined  to  the  precise  modes  of  expression  in 
use  two  hundred  years  ago,  they  would  not  be 
hurtling  forward  in  every  activity  of  life  as  they 
are  now  doing;  they  would  think  and  conduct 
themselves  as  people  did  two  hundred  years  ago. 
New  Speech  Is  Coined  in  High  Schools  and  Col- 
leges.—  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  our  colleges 
and  universities,  and  to  some  extent  our  high 
schools,  are  mints  for  the  coining  of  new  words 

/and  phrases.  The  writer  recently  investigated  the 
unusual,  unconventional  speech  in  a  high  school 
with  an  enrollment  of  eleven  hundred  pupils. 
About  nine  hundred  sixty  expressions  were  found 
in  common  usage  which  could  not  be  located  in  the 
dictionary.  In  the  same  city  is  a  large  university. 
It  is  well-nigh  impossible  to  keep  up  with  the  new 
phrases  which  are  being  coined  on  the  campus  of 
this  institution.  The  students  come  from  every 
section  of  the  country,  and  have  had  the  regula- 
tion elementary  and  high-school  training.  The 
teachers  in  the  preparatory  schools  have  aimed  to 


QUESTIONS  FREQUENTLY  ASKED  257 

teach  the  conventional  proprieties  in  speech,  as 
well  as  in  writing ;  they  have  not  endorsed  any  of 
the  innovations  in  language.  And  yet  these  stu- 
dents enjoy  inventing  and  using  new  and  colorful 
terms  and  expressions.  The  schools  have  not"" 
been  able  to  develop  resistance  to  the  subtle  influ- 
ences of  American  life  which  have  played  upon 
these  six  thousand  students  and  made  them  fond 
of  dynamic  speech,  because  this  seems  to  express 
their  attitude  toward  life  more  completely  than 
the  less  picturesque  and  stimulating  phrases  of 
their  ancestors. 

The  generation  now  on  the  boards  is  especially 
prolific  in  the  coining  of  new  terms.  One  rarely 
sees  a  parent  who  can  keep  abreast  of  his  chil- 
dren in  the  use  of  the  present-day  American 
tongue.  Children  are  going  the  pace  to-day  in 
language  as  they  are  in  everything  else.  They 
are  probably  not  going  faster  or  farther  in  speech 
than  they  are  in  dress,  say,  or  in  the  dance,  and 
the  like.  To  repeat, — the  language  of  a  people  is 
expressive  of  their  every-day  life.  If  they  are 
unconventional  in  conduct  they  will  be  unconven- 
tional in  speech ;  and  the  principle  is  universal  in 
its  application. 

Slang  Is  Offensive  to  Most  Persons. —  Most 
adults  probably  would  like  to  have  the  speech  of 
young  people  to-day  a  little  more  refined  than  it 
is.  Even  if  an  adult  enjoys  dynamic,  high-colored 
figures  of  speech,  he  is  still  likely  to  be  offended 


258  THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

by  some  of  the  new  terms  introduced  by  the  boys, 
and  the  girls  as  well,  who  are  now  in  the  schools. 
As  a  rule,  slang  is  offensive  to  grown  persons; 
but  by  slang  is  meant  gutter  language,  used  by 
those  who  lack  fine  or  delicate  feeling  in  respect 
to  any  matter.  In  a  true  sense,  slang  is  always 
vulgar.  It  takes  its  rise  from  vulgar  objects  and 
experiences. 

A  distinction  should  be  made  between  slang  and 
new  terms  and  expressions  which  are  in  accord 
with  the  spirit  of  the  language.  To  illustrate :  in 

,  the  last  presidential  election  the  term  ' '  hyphen- 
ated Americans"  came  into  general  use.  It  will 
probably  abide  in  the  language.  It  is  not  an  of- 
fensive term.  It  is  a  figurative  expression  which 
is  a  real  contribution  to  the  every-day  vocabulary 
of  the  American  people.  This  should  not  be 

'called  slang.  Again,  the  term  "pacifist"  was 
coined  recently,  and  undoubtedly  it  will  be  in- 
corporated into  tjhe  language.  There  is  no  reason 
why  it  should  not  remain  as  a  part  of  our  speech. 
'/Bull  Moose"  is  another  figurative  term  which 
has  met  a  real  need,  and  has  been  seized  upon  by 
all  vigorous  Americans.  One  could  mention  many 
other  terms  which  have  been  coined  during  heated 
political  campaigns  to  express  ideas  which  could 
not  be  adequately  conveyed  by  conventionalized 
terms  and  phrases.  Probably  every  adult  has 
used  the  terms  "waving  the  bloody  shirt"  and 
"carpet-bagger"  and  "copper-head"  and  "mend- 


QUESTIONS  FREQUENTLY  ASKED  259 

ing  his  fences"  and  "jingo"  and  others  like 
these.  To  many  persons  these  seem  age-worn, 
conservative  expressions,  but  they  have  all  been 
introduced  into  the  language  very  recently. 

Words  That  Are  Out  of  Harmony  with  Our 
Language. —  Contrast  with  these  terms  some 
others  that  are  seeking  admission  into  our  lan- 
guage, but  that  are  out  of  harmony  with  the 
spirit  of  it.  Such  a  term  as  "guy^  for  instance, 
which  is  constantly  used  "By  young  people,  has 
nothing  to  commend  it.  It  ought  to  be  eliminated. 
"Stewed,"  "soused,"  "half-shot,"  "jagged,"  \ 
and  the  like  for  an  intoxicated  man  are  all  rough, 
gutter  terms,  invented  by  people  accustomed  to 
an  uncouth  life.  "The  head  push,"  "chief 
squeeze,"  "the  whole  cheese,"  and  similar  terms 
were  also  developed  and  are  used  by  persons  who 
have  no  delicacy  of  feeling,  and  who  do  not  rise 
above  the  rough  and  more  or  less  sordid  things  of 
life.  Again,  terms  like  "mutfc"  "bone-head," 
"vamoose,"  and  all  the  rest  lack  the  essential, 
characteristics  of  colorful,  dynamic  speech.  Un- 
fortunately these  innovations,  seized  upon  by 
some  newspapers  and  theatrical  people  and  given 
wide  publicity,  are  taken  up  by  the  young,  and 
some  of  them  have  been  forced  into  the  language 
against  the  wish  of  the  great  majority  of  Ameri- 
cans. Almost  any  term  which  one  constantly 
hears  is  likely  to  creep  into  his  speech,  unless  he 
has  reached  the  stage  where  his  vocabularly  is 


260         THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 

thoroughly  fixed,  and  so  is  no  longer  plastic  with 
respect  to  new  terms  or  phrases. 

Imitation  the  Chief  Factor.—  Can  the  young 
be  trained  so  that  they  will  use  polite,  but  at  the 
same  time  dynamic,  speech?  The  chief  factor  in 
determining  one's  vocabulary  is  imitation.  If 
one  could  take  any  adult's  vocabulary  and  trace 
its  history  in  detail,  he  would  find  that  at  least 
ninety-nine  out  of  every  hundred  of  the  terms, 
figures  of  speech  and  idioms  used  have  been 
gained  from  imitation.  At  first  glance  some 
readers  may  think  that  one 's  speech  is  determined 
very  largely  by  his  reading,  but  this  is  not  the 
case.  Much  of  what  children  read  has  no  influ- 
ence whatever  on  their  speech.  For  instance, 
pupils  who  are  reading  Scott  in  the  seventh  grade 
are  not  influenced  appreciably  by  his  terms  or 
expressions.  Hardly  any  of  the  classical  writers 
read  in  the  schools  make  an  impression  on  the 
speech  of  the  young.  The  language  used  in  clas- 
sical books  seems  very  remote  to  most  young  peo- 
ple from  the  language  of  every-day  life.  If  they 
heard  language  in  the  school,  in  their  homes,  or 
on  the  street  like  that  employed  by  Milton,  let  us 
say,  then  their  reading  of  this  author  might  in- 
fluence their  speech ;  but  this  is  rarely  if  ever  the 
case. 

The  teaching  of  grammar  in  the  schools  exerts 
but  little  influence  upon  a  child's  every-day  lan- 
guage. A  child's  speech  is  formed  where  speak- 


QUESTIONS  FREQUENTLY  ASKED  261 

ing  is  going  on, — that  is  to  say,  in  his  crowd.  As 
his  set  speaks,  so  will  the  individual  speak.  If  a 
child's  associates  speak  ungrammatically — if  they 
say,  "I  seen  him,"  for  instance — the  chances  are 
the  child  will  use  the  same  expression  sooner  or 
later.  On  the  other  hand,  if  his  associates  speak 
correctly,  the  child  will  certainly  imitate  them  in 
the  long  run.  Instruction  in  the  home  or  the 
school  cannot  accomplish  much  by  way  of  coun- 
teracting ungrammatical  or  unlovely  speech  in 
the  group. 

This  all  means  that  in  order  to  make  the  speech 
of  an  individual  child  polite,  while  at  the  same 
time  forceful,  he  must  have  companions  whose 
speech  possesses  these  qualities.  No  phase  of 
one's  life  is  so  deeply  influenced  by  the  group  as 
is  his  speech,  because  it  is  learned  unconsciously 
for  the  most  part.  This  it  is  that  makes  it  prac- 
tically impossible  for  the  individual  to  rise  above 
the  level  of  his  group  in  this  respect. 

A  Child  Speaks  as  His  Associates  Speak. —  A 
child  is  influenced  more  largely  by  his  associates 
than  by  his  parents,  simply  because  he  imitates 
those  who  are  on  his  level  of  development,  and 
who  have  kindred  interests.  One  can  see  children 
everywhere  who  hear  refined  speech  in  their 
homes,  but  who  themselves  have  a  rough,  slangy 
tongue.  Their  speech  is  full  of  violent  expletives, 
and  all  their  talk  smacks  of  the  gutter.  Why? 
Because  they  run  with  children  whose  speech  has 


262         THE  TREND  OP  THE  TEENS 

been  formed  on  the  street,  and  true  to  nature  they 
imitate  their  kind.  Their  parents  are  not  of  their 
kind;  they  are  more  or  less  remote  from  them — 
some  more  so  than  others.  It  is  only  playmates 
who  much  influence  one  another.  When  people 
play  together  they  are  in  a  plastic  relation  to- 
ward one  another,  and  quickly  take  up  each 
other's  traits.  Children  are  not  as  a  rule  in  a 
plastic  attitude  toward  parents  or  instructors,  and 
so  they  do  not  assimilate  their  characteristics 
readily. 

Often  one  sees  parents  who  are  distressed  at 
their  children's  speech,  but  all  they  do  to  change 
it  is  to  give  them  formal  lectures  occasionally. 
This  is  not  only  a  useless,  but  it  is  an  irritating 
method.  Probably  not  once  in  a  hundred  cases 
will  any  good  come  from  such  methods.  If  a 
parent  does  not  like  his  children's  speech,  he  must 
change  their  companions,  or  else  he  must  endure 
harsh,  ugly  terms  and  phrases  that  grate  upon 
his  sensibilities. 

The  schools  to-day  are  doing  more  than  they 
did  formerly  to  keep  the  speech  of  the  young  rea- 
sonably refined,  while  indulging  their  passion  for 
color  and  fire  and  spirit.  In  any  good  school  now 
the  pupils  do  most  of  the  talking.  They  do  not 
simply  answer  "yes"  or  "no"  to  questions,  but 
they  stand  on  their  feet  and  discuss  topics.  They 
may  occupy  four  or  five  minutes  at  a  time  in  talk- 
ing on  a  theme  which  is  proposed.  The  teacher 


QUESTIONS  FREQUENTLY  ASKED  263 

does  not  hold  the  pupils  down  to  rigid,  conven- 
tional, schoolroom  language,  but  gives  large  free- 
dom for  the  use  of  strong,  picturesque  expres- 
sions, provided  they  are  not  offensive.  In  this 
way  an  outlet  is  given  for  the  strong,  dynamic 
feeling  of  the  young  in  expressions  which  will  not 
irritate  sensitive  ears.  Here  is  a  great  oppor- 
tunity for  each  teacher  in  American  schools.  The 
teacher  can  do  more  than  can  the  parent  to  direct 
the  ebullient  life  of  the  young  into  proper  lin- 
guistic channels. 


CHAPTER  IX 
BOOKS  FOE  PAEENTS  AND  TEACHEES 

The  following  books  are  designed  for  persons 
who  are  responsible  for  the  care  and  culture  of 
the  young.  They  have  been  selected  from  a  large 
amount  of  literature  dealing  with  child  nature 
and  education  primarily  because  of  their  modern 
view  point  (even  though  a  few  of  them  were  writ- 
ten long  ago),  and  also  because  of  their  concrete, 
simple  and  attractive  method  of  discussing  the 
topics  which  they  treat.  Most  of  them  can  be  read 
will  profit  and  pleasure  by  those  who  have  not 
pursued  courses  in  psychology  and  related 
sciences,  and  these  are  designated  by  stars.  The 
books  have  been  grouped  according  to  the  phases 
of  child  nature  and  education  to  which  they  sever- 
ally give  special  attention;  but  this  grouping  is 
only  approximately  accurate,  since,  while  the 
majority  of  the  books  treat  the  period  of  the  teens 
in  particular,  they  nevertheless  give  some  atten- 
tion to  other  periods. 


264 


BOOKS  FOR  PARENTS  AND  TEACHERS 


265 


A  GENERAL  VIEW  OF  CHILD  NATURE  AND  TRAINING 


*Abbot 
*Birney 

*Forbush 

*Gillrnan 

*Groszmann 

*Gruenberg 

*Gruenberg 

Hall 
*Hallam 

Jacoby 
*Key 
Kirkpatrick 

*Loti 
*Winterburn 


On  the  Training  of  Par- 
ents 
The     Child     in     Home, 

School  and  State 
The  Coming  Generation 
Concerning  Children 
The  Career  of  the  Child 
Sons  and  Daughters 
Your  Child  To-day  and 

To-morrow 
Adolescence 

Studies    in    Child    De- 
velopment 
Child    Training    as    an 

Exact  Science 
The     Century     of     the 

Child 
The    Individual    in   the 

Making 

The  Story  of  a  Child 
From  the  Child's  Stand- 
point 


Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 

National    Congress   of 

Mothers 

D.  Appleton  &  Co. 
Small  Maynard  &  Co. 
Badger 

Henry  Holt  &  Co. 
J.  B.  Lippincott  Co 

D.  Appleton  &  Co. 
Row  Peterson  &  Co. 

Funk  &  Wagnalls 
G.  P.  Putnam  Sons 
Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 

C.  C.  Berchard  &  Co. 
Baker  &  Taylor 


PHYSICAL  DEVELOPMENT  AND  WELFARE 


*Allen 
*  Allen 

Ayres 
*Bryant 

Burks 

Curtis 

-Hutchinson 
-Lee 

Offner 
*Oppenheim 

*O'Shea  & 
Kellogg 

*0'Shea  & 
Kellogg 


Civics  and  Health 
Home,  School  and  Vaca- 
tion 

Open-Air  Schools 
School  Feeding 
Health  and  the  School 
Play  and  Recreation 
We  and  Our  Children 
Play  in  Education 
Mental  Fatigue 
Care    of    the    Child    in 

Health 
Health  Habits 


Ginn  &  Company 
Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 

Doubleday,  Page  &  Co. 
J.  B.  Lippincott  Co. 
D.  Appleton  &  Co. 
Ginn  &  Co. 

Doubleday,  Page  &  Co. 
The  Macmillan  Co. 
Warwick  &  York 
The  Macmillan  Co. 

The  Macmillan  Co. 


Health  and  Cleanliness      The  Macmillan  Co. 


266  THE  TREND  OP  THE  TEENS 

*O'Shea  £         The  Body  in  Health          The  Macmillan  Co. 

Kellogg 
*Patrick  Psychology    of    Relaxa-   Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 

tion 

*Rapeer  Educational  Hygiene         Chas.  Scribner's  Sons 

Rowe  The  Physical  Nature  of   The  Macmillan  Co. 

the  Child  and  How  to 
Study  It 
Sadler  Physiology  of  Faith  and    A.  C.  McClurg  &  Co. 

Fear 
Stearns  etal    Types    of    Schools    for   Bobbs-Merrill  Co. 

Boys 
Terman  The     Hygiene     of     the   Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 

School  Child 
*Tyler  Growth  and  Education       Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 

C 

INTELLECTUAL  DEVELOPMENT  AND  WELFARE 

*Burbank          The  Training  of  the  Hu-   The  Century  Co. 

man  Plant 
Colvin  &          Human  Behavior  The  Macmillan  Co. 

Bagley 

*James  Talks  to  Teachers  Henry  Holt  &  Co. 

*Kirkpatrick     Fundamentals   of  Child    The  Macmillan  Co. 

Study 

*Swift  Learning  by  Doing  Bobbs-Merrill  Co. 

*Terman  The  Measurement  of  In-   Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 

telligence 

D 
EMOTIONAL  DEVELOPMENT  AND  WELFARE 

*Cabot  What  Men  Live  By  Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 

*O'Shea  Social  Development  and  Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 

Education 

Sadler  Worry  and  Nervousness  A.  C.  McClurg  &  Co. 

Seashore          Psychology  in  Daily  Life  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 


BOOKS  FOR  PARENTS  AND  TEACHERS 


267 


E 


MORAL  DEVELOPMENT  AND  TRAINING 


Adler  Moral     Instruction     of 

Children 
*Addams  The  Spirit  of  Youth  and 

the  City  Streets 
Bagley  School  Discipline 

*Cabot  Ethics  for  Children 

Forbush  The  Coming  Generation 

George  The  Junior  Republic 

Griggs  Moral  Education 

*Healy  Honesty 

Holmes  The  Principles  of  Char- 

acter Making 
Morehouse       The    Discipline    of    the 

School 

*Mumford          The  Dawn  of  Character 
*Puffer  The  Boy  and  His  Gang 

Rousseau         Ismile 
Rugh  Moral   Training  in   the 

Public  School 

Sadler  Moral    Instruction    and 

Training  in  the  Schools 

*Schoff  The  Wayward  Child 

Sharp  Education  for  Character 

Sisson  Essentials  of  Character 

*Spencer  Education     (Chap,      on 

Moral  Instruction) 

*Weimar  The  Way  to  the  Heart 

of  the  Pupil 


D.  Appleton  &  Co. 
The  Macmillan  Co. 

The  Macmillan  Co. 
Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 
D.  Appleton  &  Co. 
D.  Appleton  &  Co. 
B.  W.  Huebsch 
Bobbs-Merrill  Co. 
J.  B.  Lippincott  Co. 

D.  C.  Heath 

Longmans  Green  &  Co. 
Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 
D.  Appleton  &  Co. 
Ginn  &  Company 

Longmans  Green  &  Co. 

Bobbs-Merrill  Co. 
Bobbs-Merrill  Co. 
The  Macmillan  Co. 
Hurst  &  Co. 

The  Macmillan  Co. 


P 
SOCIAL  DEVELOPMENT  AND  TRAINING 

Cooley  Human  Nature  and  the   Chas.  Scribner's  Sons 

Social  Order 
*Fiske  Boy  Life  and  Self-Gov-    Y.  M.  C.  A.  Associated 

eminent 

*Fisher  Self-Reliance 

*Forbush  The  Boy  Problem 

Groos  The  Play  of  Man 

*King  The  High  School  Age 

King  Social  Aspects  of  Edu-   The  Macmillan  Co. 

cation 


Press 
Bobbs-Merrill  Co. 
The  Pilgrim  Press 
D.  Appleton  &  Co. 
Bobbs-Merrill  Co. 


268 


THE  TREND  OF  THE  TEENS 


Mangold  Child  Problems 

O'Shea  Social  Development  and 

Education 

*Scott  Social  Education 

Willing  &        Social  Games  and  Group 

Elson  Dances 

*O'Shea  Dynamic  Factors  in  Ed- 

ucation 

Parsons  Children's   Gardens   for 

Pleasure,  Health  and 
Education 
Phelps  Teaching  in  School  and 

College 

Ruediger          The  Principles  of  Edu- 
cation 

*Spencer  Education 

Weeks  The    Education    of    To- 

morrow 

Weeks  The  People's  School 

-Wilson  Motivation     of     School 

Work 


The  Macmillan  Co. 
Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 

Ginn  &  Co. 

J.  B.  Lippincott  &  Co. 

The  Macmillan  Co. 
Sturgis  &  Walton 

The  Macmillan  Co. 
Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 

Hurst  &  Co. 
Sturgis  &  Walton 

Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 
Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 


SCHOOL  AND  HOME  EDUCATION 


*Andrews  The  Girl  of  To-morrow 

in  "The  School  of  To- 
morrow" 

Bancroft  Games  for  the  Play- 
ground, Home,  School 
and  Gymnasium 

*Berle  The  School  in  the  Home 

Bourne  The  Gary  Schools 

Cook  &  The  Child  and  His  Spell- 

O'Shea  ing 

*Dean  The  Boy  of  To-morrow 

in  "The  School  of  To- 
morrow" 
Dewey  The  School  and  Society 

*Dewey  The  Schools  of  To-mor- 

row 

*Fisher  A  Montessori  Mother 

Hodge  Nature  Study  and  Life 

*Holmes  Backward  Children 


Doubleday,  Page  &  Co. 
The  Macmillan  Co. 


Moffat,  Yard  &  Co. 
Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 
Bobbs-Merrill  Co. 

Doubleday,  Page  &  Co. 


University  of  Chicago 

Press 
The  Macmillan  Co. 

Henry  Holt  &  Co. 
Ginn  &  Company 
Bobbs-Merrill  Co. 


BOOKS  FOR  PARENTS  AND  TEACHERS 


269 


Johnson  Education  by  Plays  and 

Games 

*Kirkpatrick     The  Use  of  Money 
Locke  Some     Thoughts     Con- 

cerning Education 
McMurry         How  to  Study 
*O'Shea  Every-day   Problems   in 

Teaching 

O'Shea  The    world    Book:     Or- 

( Editor)  ganized  Knowledge  in 

Story      and      Picture 

(contains  120  articles 

on  teaching),  10  vols. 


H 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 


Ginn  &  Company 

Bobbs-Merrill  Co. 
Cambridge    University 

Press 

Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 
Bobbs-Merrill  Co. 

Hanson  Bellows  Co. 


Bushnell          Christian  Nurture 
Coe  Education  in  Religion 

and  Morals 
*Hodges  Training  of  Children  in 

Religion 

*Moxley  Girlhood  and  Character 

Starbuck          The  Psychology  of  Re- 
ligion 


Chas.  Scribner's  Sons 
Fleming  H.  Revell  Co. 

D.  Appleton  &  Co. 

Abingdon  Press 
Chas.  Scribner's  Sons 


VOCATIONAL  EDUCATION 


*Davis 

Gilette 
*Hart 


Hollings- 
worth 
*Laselle  & 

Wiley 
*McKeever 
*McKeever 
Snedden, 
Weeks  & 
Cubberly 


Vocational    and    Moral    Ginn  &  Company 

Guidance 

Vocational  Education        American  Book  Co. 
Educational     Resources   The  Macmillan  Co. 

of  Village  and  Rural 

Communities 
Vocational  Psychology       D.  Appleton  &  Co. 


Vocations  for  Girls 

Farm  Boys  and  Girls 
Training  the  Boy 
Vocational  Education 


Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 

The  Macmillan  Co. 
The  Macmillan  Co. 
Houghton  Mifflin  Cr. 


270  THE  TREND  OP  THE  TEENS 


CHILD  LIFE  AND  EDUCATION  UNDER  VARYING 
CONDITIONS 

Bigelow  Sex  Education  The  Macmillan  Co. 

*Bloomfield       The     Vocational     Guid-  Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 

ance  of  Youth 

*Carney  Country    Life    and    the  Row,  Peterson  &  Co. 

Country  School 

Hall  &  Betts    Better  Rural  Schools  Bobbs-Merrill  Co. 

*Hall  Youth,     Its     Education,  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 

Regimen  and  Hygiene 

Hutton  A  Boy  I  Knew,  and  Four  Harper  &  Bros. 

Dogs 

*Johnston          Home    Occupations    for  G.  W.  Jacobs  &  Co. 

Boys  and  Girls 

O'Shea  &          Making  the  Most  of  Life  The  Macmillan  Co. 

Kellogg 

Scripture         Stuttering  and  Lisping  The  Macmillan  Co. 

Thorndike       Individuality  Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 

K 
GENERAL  TRAITS  AND  NEEDS  OF  CHILDHOOD 

Ayres  Laggards  in  Our  Schools  Survey  Associates,  Inc. 

Bates  &  Orr    Pageants  and  Pageantry  Ginn  &  Company 

*Gibson  Camping  for  Boys  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Association 

Press 

*Gulick  The    Healthful    Art    of  Doubleday,  Page  &  Co. 

Dancing 

Hartt  The  People  at  Play  Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 

Healy  The    Individual    Delin-  Little,  Brown  &  Co. 

quent 

*Holmes  The  Conservation  of  the  J.  P.  Lippincott  Co. 

Child 

*Herts  The    Children's   Educa-  Harper  &  Bros. 

tional  Theatre 

Needham         Folk  Festivals  B.  W.  Huebsch 

*Perry  Wider  Use  of  the  School  Survey  Associates,  Inc. 

Plant 

Shields  The    Making    and    Un-  Catholic  Educational 

making  of  a  Dullard          Press 

Simons  &  OrrDramatization  Scott,  Forsman  &  Co. 

*Ward  The  Social  Center  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 

*Welsh  Stories  Children  Love  Dodge  Publishing  Co. 


INDEX 

Adolescence,  a  critical  period  in  a  girl's  development..  70-72 
(See  adolescent  phenomena.) 

Adolescent  autobiography    19-20 

Adolescent  phenomena  15-21 

growing  pains    16 

the  lungs  and   brain  as  influenced   by  adolescent 

growth    16 

moodiness  in  adolescence 17 

Maudsley,  Clouston,  Starr,  Marrow,  Christopher,  on 

adolescence    17 

La  Fetra,  quoted  18 

Coe,  quoted  18-19 

adolescent  autobiography    19-20 

Marie  BashkirtsefTs  Journal 19 

Mill's  reminiscences 20 

Tolstoy's  autobiography  20 

Loti,  Jeffries   20 

criminal  tendencies  in  adolescents 20-21 

Swift,  quoted 21 

Adventure,  in  a  boy's  life 44-45 

American  girl,  especially  favored  in  respect  to  restric- 
tions      70 

Amorousness,  in  a  school 100-103 

comradeship,  rather  than 103-104 

Artificial  customs,  the  pressure  of  on  girls  in  schools . .  87-89 

Artificial  restrictions,  girls  are  breaking  with 68-69 

Athletics,  in  high  school 30-31 

injury  from 31-32 

Attractiveness,  and  a  girl's  education 83 

Autocracy,  on  the  part  of  parents 201-203 

Bacon,  quoted 14 

Barker,    views    on    making    children    independent    of 

parents  and  home 207 

Bashkirtseff,  Marie,  journal   19 

"Bawling  out,"  as  a  method  of  governing  the  young 216-218 

271 


272  INDEX 

Boy  favorites,  among  girls 99-100 

Boy  life,  in  small  towns 39-44 

boys'  needs  not  provided  for  in  schools 41 

small  towns  encourage  loafing 42 

homes  are  not  made  attractive  for  boys 43-45 

Boy  problems 38-64 

"breaking  the  law,"  38-39 

boy  life  in  small  towns 41 

new  times  bring  new  problems '. 42 

why  will  boys  not  stay  at  home? 43 

a  boy  loves  adventure 44-45 

the  boy  who  is  "picked  on" 45-47 

boys  need  comrades  not  disciplinarians 47-48 

"scrapping"    49-51 

teasing 52-54 

cruelty    54-55 

the  passion  for  mastery 55-56 

cooperative  games  and  plays  as  a  cure  for  plaguing.          57 

experiences  that  test  courage  and  endurance 58-62 

the  call  of  the  swimming  pool 62-64 

Boys,  appearance  of  puberty  in 221 

conforming  to  reasonable  rules 249-251 

girl  associates 113-115 

immature,  maturing  and  mature 222 

indifference  to  cleanliness 226-227 

appearance  of  aesthetic  interests 227-229 

individualistic  period  222 

in     need     of    contact    with     virile     men     during 

adolescence   171 

need    of    experiences    that    develop    courage    and 

endurance 61 

not  treated  in  refined  way  as  compared  with  girls.        120 

passion  for  experience  in  water 63 

self-government  among 207-209 

should  be  given  freedom  to  go  about  in  the  world . .  200-201 

subjection  to  vulgar  and  obscene  suggestion 119-120 

value  of  military  school  for 247-251 

Boys'  schools,  simple  life  in 143 

Brain,  as  influenced  by  adolescent  growth 16 

Budget  making,  necessary  for  happiness  in  married  life.  132-134 
Budget  system,  necessary  in  order  to  relieve  fathers 
from   burden   of   resisting  children's  appeal   for 
money    182-184 


INDEX  273 

Chaperoning,  when  necessary 104-106 

Child  training,  a  source  of  conflict  in  married  life 136-137 

Chivalry,  in  later  youth 117-119 

Choosing  an  occupation,  helping  children  in 232-234 

how  children  are  influenced  by  a  parent's  occupa- 
tion    234-237 

changing  views  with  development 236-238 

Christopher 17 

Chronological  age  220 

Cleanliness,  indifference  of  boys  to 226-228 

Clothes,  problem  of  in  a  girl's  education 85-87 

Clouston    17 

Coe,  quoted 18-19 

Co-education,  benefits  of 112-113 

College,  as  compared  with  large  university,  for  boys. .  .251-253 
Compensating   factors,   for   the  minor   role  played   by 

fathers    171-173 

Competitive  games,  as  a  substitute  for  fighting 50-51 

Comrades,  needed  by  boys 47-48 

Concentration,  during  adolescence 72-73 

Conflict,  between  parents  and  children 190-192 

Constructive  treatment,  necessary  to  remedy  dance  evil.  109-110 

Continuation  schools,  training  in  for  married  life 137 

Cooperation,  in  the  government  of  the  young 218-219 

Cooperative  games  and  plays,  as  substitutes  for  teasing.     57-58 

Courage,  experiences  that  test 58-61 

Criminal  tendencies,  in  adolescents 20-21 

Crucial  age  . , 13-37 

youth  among  primitive  people 14-15 

familiar  adolescent  phenomena  15-17 

first  effect  of  adolescent  development 17 

adolescent  moodiness 17-19 

adolescent  strain  and  stress  as  portrayed  in  auto- 
biography       19-20 

criminal  tendencies  in  adolescents 20-21 

why  boys  leave  school  early 21-24 

the  problem  of  over- work  in  the  school 24-26 

the  increasing  nervous  strain  in  life 26-28 

a  typical  case  of  over-strain  in  school 28 

not  less  work  but  less  waste 28-29 

practical  means  of  avoiding  over-strain 29-30 

high  school  athletics   30-31 

injury  from  athletics 31-32 


274  INDEX 

t 

physical  training  by  proxy 33 

inter-scholastic  competition 34-35 

physical  training  of  girls 35-37 

Dancing,  the  problem  of 106-111 

late  hours  injurious 107-108 

always  a  pressing  problem 108-109 

constructive  treatment  will  alone  euro  evil  of 109-110 

in  relation  to  comradeship  and  sex  feeling 104 

Democracy,  in  dealing  with  the  young 189-190 

democratic  way  the  happiest  way 192-194 

Diet,  as  affecting  temper  in  married  life 128-130 

Disciplinarians,  not  needed  by  boys 47-48 

Distractions,  in  American  life 141-167 

the  high  cost  of  simplicity  in  education 141-144 

distraction  from  intellectual  tasks 144-146 

youth  and  the  moving  picture  theater 146-149 

censorship  of  pictures  for  the  young 149-151 

the  value  of  moving  pictures 151-152 

team  work  between  home  and  school 152-153 

young  people  should  study  at  home 153-155 

the  telephone  as  a  distractive  factor 155-156 

parents  often  encourage  distraction 156-159 

the  tonic  effect  of  mastery 159-161 

the  home  can  often  develop  habits  of  application.  .161-164 

some  advantages  of  school  training 164-165 

sending  pupils  away  to  school 165-167 

Eastman,  on  the  treatment  of  adolescent  Indian  boys..  15 
Economic  strain  and  stress,  a  prominent  factor  in  mar- 
ried life  130-133 

Education,  essential  to  a  happy  marriage 127 

Endurance,  experiences  that  test 58-61 

Euripides,  quoted   13 

Exuberance,  of  youth 194 

Fashion,  the  demands  of  on  girls  in  school  and  college.     89-90 

Father,  role  of,  in  the  training  of  youth 168-188 

the  fatherless  children  of  America 168-169 

who  are  moulding  the  character  of  the  young? 169-171 

compensating  factors 171-173 

types  "of  fathers  and  sons 173-179 

fathers  as  companions  of  their  boys 179-184 


INDEX  ^  275 

the  father  as  bread-winner  only 184-185 

the  bread-winner  may  become  a  boor 185-187 

expensive  luxuries  usually  disrupt  a  family 187-188 

Fatherless  children,  of  America 168-169 

Fathers,  as  bread-winners  only .' 184-185 

likely  to  become  boorish 185-186 

as  pain  givers  only  in  their  families 188 

as  companions  of  their  sons 179-182 

as  task  masters  and  policemen 180 

as  chums  with  their  boys 180-181 

as  companions  with  their  daughters 180-181 

Fathers  and  sons,  types  of 173-179 

Fighting,  how  to  prevent 50-51 

punishment  for   51 

Foreword    7-10 

Girl  problems 65-94 

restrictions  on  the  girl's  activities 65-67 

intellectual  restrictions   67-68 

restrictions  on  speech  68 

girls  are  breaking  artificial  restrictions 68-70 

the  American  girl  is  especially  favored 70 

adolescence  a  critical  period  in  a  girl's  life 70-72 

adolescent  girls  will  not  concentrate  on  dull  tasks. .  72-73 

arrest  in  a  girl's  mental  development 73-74 

the  non-social  girls  75-78 

sociability  may  develop  with  age 77-78 

the  higher  education  of  girls 79-94 

the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  society  and  the  college  girl 79-81 

women  leading  in  scholarship 80-81 

girl  students  will  not  be  denied 81-82 

woman  must  win  by  personal  accomplishment. . . .  82-85 

education  and  personal  attractiveness. 83-85 

the  problem  of  clothes 85-87 

pressure  of  artificial  customs 87-89 

reduce  the  demands  of  fashion 89-90 

the  social  life  of  a  girl  in  school  and  in  college. . . .  90-91 

disadvantages  of  secret  societies 91-93 

should  a  girl  join  a  sorority? 93-94 

Girl  students,  insistent  upon  recognition  and  rights 81-82 

Girls  activities,  restrictions  on 65-70 

intellectual  restrictions   67 


276  INDEX 

restrictions  on  speech 68 

girls  are  breaking  artificial  restrictions 68-69 

the  American  girl  is  especially  favored 70 

Good  comradeship,  essential  for  successful  marriage...        125 
Government,  of  youth,  by  quiet  self-controlled  methods. 214-216 

"by  bawling  out" 216-218 

by  cooperation  218-219 

by  nagging,  contrasted  with  self-government 212-214 

Grit,  not  usually  developed  in  city  boy 61 

Growing  pains  16 

Gymnastic  activities,  as  a  substitute  for  fighting 50 

Health,  fundamental  requisite  for  happy  married  life..        128 

Heart,  as  influenced  by  adolescent  growth 16 

High  school,  not  a  breeding  place  for  vice 111-113 

benefits  of  co-education 112-113 

Home,  when  a  boy  should  leave 203-204 

loosening  home  ties  204-206 

making  children  independent  of 206-207 

Home  and  school,  team  work  between 152-153 

Home  study 153-159 

community  practice  in  respect  to 154 

arrangement  to  encourage 154-155 

distraction  from  telephone 155-156 

parents  often  encourage  distraction 156-159 

Home  ties,  loosening  of 204-206 

making  children  independent  of  parents  and  home. 206-207 

Imitation,  chief  factor  in  determining  speech  of  chil- 
dren    260-263 

Injury,  through  athletics 31-32 

Intellectual  tasks,  distraction  from  in  American  life. .  .144-146 

Intellectual  restrictions,  on  girls 67 

Interest,  in  opposite  sex 115-116 

cannot  be  forced  115-116 

Interests,  in  an  adolescent  girl's  life 72-73 

Inter-scholastic  competition 34-35 

Jeffries  20 

La  Fetra,  quoted 18 

Late  hours,  encourage  morbid  amorous  feeling  among 

boys  and  girls   107-108 


INDEX  277 

Law-breaking,  by  boys   38-39 

Less  waste,  not  less  work 28-29 

Loti 20 

Lungs,  as  influenced  by  adolescent  growth 16 

Luxuries,  likely  to  disrupt  a  family 187 

Manual  training,  influence  on  a  boy's  usefulness  around 

the  home 238-241 

as  a  means  of  making  money 241-244 

Marriage,  preparation  for  121-140 

fundamental  requirements 122-125 

good  comradeship  essential  125-126 

the  better  the  education  the  happier  the  married  life.126-127 

health  as  a  fundamental  requisite • 127-128 

diet  and  temper  128-130 

economic  strain  and  stress 130-133 

mutual  understanding  and  appreciation 133-134 

talk  about  duties  and  burdens  can  be  overdone. . . .        135 

the  treatment  of  children  a  source  of  conflict 136-137 

training  for  marriage  in  continuation  schools 137-138 

special  instruction  relating  to  married  life 138-140 

Married  life ( See  Marriage) 

Marrow   17 

Mastery,  the  passion  for 55 

tonic  effect  of .159-163 

Maudsley    17 

Meals,  definite  periods  for 230-231 

Mental  development  in  girls,  arrest  in 73-74 

Military  regimen,  in  schools  for  boys 248-249 

Military  school,  value  for  boys 247-251 

Mill,  reminiscences   20 

Moodiness,  in  adolescence 17 

Mother's  Magazine 7 

Moulding  forces,  in  the  development  of  the  young 169-170 

Moving  pictures,  value  of  for  youth 151-152 

censorship  of   152 

(See  moving  picture  theater) 
Moving  picture   theater,   and  the   development  of  sex 

feeling   102 

influence  upon  youth  146-152 

moving  pictures  indulge  passion  for  daring,  hazard- 
ous adventure  147 

they  often  suggest  lewdness  and  vulgarity 149 


278  INDEX 

censorship  of  motion  pictures 149-151 

the  value  of  moving  pictures " 151-152 

Mutual  understanding  and   appreciation,   essential   for 

happy  marriage  133-134 

Muir,  John,  quoted  62 

National  Congress  of  Mothers 7 

Nervous  strain,  in  modern  life 26-28 

Non-social  girl  74-76 

should  not  be  coerced  into  social  activities 76-77 

sociability  may  develop  with  age 77-78 

Occupation,  choosing  an (See  Choosing  an  Occupation) 

Optimistic  age  116-117 

Over-eating,  danger  of  231-232 

Over-strain,  causes  of  in  high  school 25-26 

"parties" . .          26 

means  of  avoiding 29-30 

due  to  improper  program  in  school 28 

Over- work,  in  the  high  school 25-28 

physicians  of  France,  Italy,  and  America  on 125 

Parental  autocracy,  concrete  instances  of 201-203 

Parents,  making  children  independent  of 206-207 

Parent-Teacher  Associations  7 

"Parties,"  as  cause  of  over-strain  in  high  school 26 

Personal  accomplishment,  woman's  chief  concern 82-85 

Physical  training,  by  proxy 33-34 

Physicians  of  France,  Italy  and  America,  on  over-work 

in  the  high  school 25 

Physiological  age   220 

"Picked-on"  individual 45-47 

Plaguing (See  Teasing,  Scrapping) 

"Pomp-Pomp  Pull-Away,"  as  a  substitute  for  fighting. . .          50 
Preservation  of  health,  indifference  of  adolescence  to.. 225-226 

Professional  athletics,  in  schools 244-247 

Puberty,  appearance  of  in  boys  and  in  girls 220-223 

Punishment,  for  fighting 51 

Refinement,  of  girls  as  compared  with  boys 119-121 

Reformer,  the  problem  of 103 

Regular  programs,  salutary  influence  of 196-198 

avoiding  irritation  and  conflict  by 198-200 


INDEX  279 

Restlessness,  why  so  marked  between  fourteenth  and 

sixteenth  years   223-225 

Rhinehart,  Mary  Roberts,  quoted 191 

Romantic  ideals,  in  later  youtu 117-119 

Scholarship,  women  leading  in 80-81 

School  gymnasium,  to  be  used  for  all  pupils,  not  for 

athletic  teams  alone  ; 246-247 

School  training,  advantages  of 164-165 

away  from  home  165-167 

"Scrapping"    49-51 

Secret  societies,  disadvantages  of  in  girls'  schools 91-92 

Self-government,  among  boys 207-209 

in  public  schools  in  England 208 

the  fagging  system 209-210 

as  a  training  in  government 210-212 

Self-made  programs,  parents  should  respect  a  child's.  .194-196 

Sentimental  relations,  between  boys  and  girls 98-99 

Seven  ages  of  man 13 

Shakespeare,  quoted   14 

Simplicity  in  education,  the  high  cost  of 141-144 

Slang   253-263 

how  to  train  young  people  to  avoid 253-254 

many  persons  enjoy  vigorous  language 254-256 

new  terms  coined  in  high  schools  and  colleges 256-257 

slang  is  offensive  to  most  adults 257-259 

words  that  are  out  of  harmony  with  our  language. .        259 

imitation  the  chief  factor 260-263 

Small  towns,  boy  life  in 39-44 

schools  in   41-42 

homes  in,  as  adapted  to  needs  of  boys 43 

Sociability,  may  develop  with  age 77-78 

Social  life,  of  a  girl  in  school  and  college 90-91 

disadvantages  of  secret  societies 91-93 

should  a  girl  join  a  sorority? 93-94 

Social  relations,  between  boys  and  girls 95-98 

Sorority,  should  a  girl  join 93-94 

Speech,  restrictions  in  the  use  of  by  girls 68 

Starr 17 

Suggestion,  in  the  development  of  sex  feeling 102 

amorousness    the   chief    topic    of    conversation    in 
many  communities  101-102 


280  INDEX 

boys  exposed  to  vulgar  and  obscene 119-120 

girls  protected  from  vulgar  and  obscene 120 

Swimming,  antidote  for  tense  nerves 63 

as  a  prophylactic  for  mischief  and  crime 64 

Swimming  pool,  the  call  of 62 

Swift,  quoted   21 

Teasing   51 

not  cruel  from  standpoint  of  teaser 53 

the  point  of  view  of  the  actor  and  the  on-looker  dif- 
ferent in  every  case  of 54-55 

mastery,  the  passion  for 55 

Telephone,  as  a  cause  of  distraction 155-156 

Tender  passion,  appearance  of 95-140 

social  relations  of  boys  and  girls 95-98 

the  beginning  of  sentimental  relations 98-99 

the  kind  of  boy  who  attracts  the  girl 99-100 

amorousness  in  a  school 100-103 

comradeship  rather  than  amorousness  in  the  early 

teens    103-104 

when  chaperoning  is  necessary 104-106 

the  problem  of  the  dance 106-107 

late  hours  injurious  107-108 

the  dance  problem  is  always  a  pressing  one 108-109 

constructive  treatment  alone  will  correct  the  evil.  109-111 

the  high  school  not  a  breeding  place  for  vice 111-112 

benefits  of  co-education  112-113 

should  a  mother  pick  out  a  boy's  or  girl's  associ- 
ates?    113-114 

how  guidance  can  be  exercised 114-115 

interest  in  the  opposite  sex 115 

interest  in  the  opposite  sex  cannot  be  forced 115-116 

the  optimistic  age  116-117 

romance  and  chivalry  in  later  youth 117-119 

are  girls  more  refined  by  nature  than  boys? 119-121 

preparation  for  the  great  adventure 121-122 

fundamental  requirements  122-125 

good  comradeship  is  essential. 125-126 

the  better  the  education  the  happier  the  married 

life    ~ 126-127 

health  is  a  fundamental  requisite 127-128 

diet  and  temper   128-130 

economic  strain  and  stress 130-133 


INDEX  281 

mutual  understanding  and  appreciation 133-134 

talk  about  duties  and  burdens  can  be  over-done..        135 

the  treatment  of  children  a  source  of  conflict 136-137 

training   in   continuation   schools 137-138 

special   instruction   relating  to   married   life 138-140 

Tense  muscles,  as  a  cause  of  restlessness 224-225 

Tolstoy,  autobiography 20 

"Tug  of  War/'  as  a  substitute  for  fighting 50 

Unhealthful  eating  habits,  how  to  control 228-230 

assigning  definite  periods  for  meals 230-231 

danger  of  over-eating 231-232 

University,    the   value   of  for  boys   as   compared   with 

small  college 251-253 

Woman,  must  win  by  personal  accomplishment 82-83 

Youth,  among  primitive  people 14-15 

the  government  of 189-219 

democracy  in  dealing  with 189-190 

the   chief   cause   of   conflict   between   parents   and 

children   190-192 

the  democratic  way  is  the  happiest  way 192-194 

youth  is  exuberant 194 

respect  a  child's  self-made  programs 194-196 

the  salutary  influence  of  a  regular  program 196-198 

avoiding  irritation  and  conflict 198-200 

let  the  boy  try  his  wings 200-201 

a  concrete  instance  of  parental  autocracy 201-203 

when  a  boy  should  leave  home 203-204 

loosening  home  ties 204-206 

make  children  independent  of  parents  and  home 206-207 

self-government  among  boys 207-209 

the  fagging  system 209-210 

training  in  government 210-212 

government  by  nagging f  / 212-214 

a  different  method  of  government 214-216 

government  by  "bawling  out" 216-218 

government  by  cooperation 218-219 


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